Legendary Dreams
by Eevetta
Summary: The Rookie 9, Gai’s team, their Senseis, Gaara's team, & Itachi, are taken to a world where creatures of the imagination reign. Team 7 seem familiar with the place. Does it have anything to do with their disappearance 5 years ago? Pokemon xover.
1. Pokemon List

**LEGENDARY DREAMS**

**by Eevetta**

**Anime: **Naruto/Pokemon crossover

**Rating: **For the first couple chapters it's rated T, but overall, it's K+

**Genre: **Action/Adventure/General/Humor

**Pairings: **ovearall a friendship fic, but there are Sakura/Gaara and Naruto/Hinata moments as well as others...

**Warnings: **Swearing, OOCness, strong Sakura (don't like? too bad for you)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, Pokemon, or any other Anime cameos that appear in this story. I only own SOME of the OC characters.

I have some things to say:

1) Since HeartGold and SoulSilver came out, my passion for Pokemon has come back with a vengence. I've already beated the Elite Four, all 16 Gym leaders, and Red, and now in the process of EV training my other Pokemon. Battle Frontier is a definite challenge, but I kind of find it a tad bit boring. I'll go to it when I feel like it.

For not touching this story in a very long time (or any other of my fanfics) I STILL haven't yet looked through all the votes so I decided to come back and look them over AGAIN (so tedius X|). I thank again everyone who has submitted their ideas. Ever since the release of the fourth generation Pokemon, I've been wanting to add some to the list. Unfortunately, I had to take out some to add in the new ones, so that's what I did. I wanted at least one for each of them if I could, and depending on my choice, the team ideas may or may not have changed from before.

2) I've added Natures to each PKMN, but decided to leave out the characteristics so it'll be much more are my current obsession with Pearl and Diamond. I have a fair amount and still adding more to my arsenal. Each character gets one shiny, so no complaining.

3) I didn't explain what the roles of the legendaries were because I wanted to explain it in one of the future chapters, but I will say this; the legendaries are separate from the party of six for each trainer. They don't go in a Pokeball or travel with their bonded human, although they come to visit once in awhile. Also, a mark of the legendary appears on their human anywhere on their body when the legendary is nearby or is needed in some way; an example already was with Sakura having Celebi's mark on her left shoulder.

4) Thanks everyone for your trainer/pokemon OC characters. Again, NO MORE additions please. If you want changes, PM me instead.

5)** I COMBINED THE FIRST AND SECOND LISTS TOGETHER**

***

**POKEMON LIST**

**::TEAM 7::**

**UZUMAKI NARUTO ** (Same persona, same obsession for ramen. He treats Sasuke and Kakashi like brothers and Sakura as a sister)

**Preferrences: **Any types will do. He thinks every pokemon is amazing, even the ones that seem to have brains the size of a pea. His team notices though, that his pokemon seem to relate to him in terms of either persona or character.

**1) Ninetales ***shiny*  
**Nickname:** Shirahime (Japanese for 'White Princess')  
**Ability: **Flash Fire  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Modest

**2) Gyarados **  
**Nickname: **Arashi (Japanese for 'Storm')  
**Ability: **Intimidate  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Docile

**3) Swellow  
Nickname: **Tsubame (Japanese for 'Swallow')  
**Ability: **Guts  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature:** Adamant

**4) Salamence  
Nickname: **Yume (Japanese for 'Dream')  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Intimidate  
**Nature: **Hardy

**5) Heracross  
Nickname:** Raka (thanks **giggles9113 **^_^)  
**Ability: **Guts  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Brave

**6) Toxicroak  
Nickname:** Jabber (Reference to Brock's Crogunk)  
**Ability: **Anticipation  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Rash

**Legendary Bond: Ho-oh  
Ability: **Pressure  
**Nature: **Serious  
**Mark: **Back

***

**UCHIHA SASUKE** (His persona is like the Sasuke before the massacre. He treats Naruto and Sakura as siblings, and Kakashi as an uncle.)

**Preferrences: **Fire and Dark types, and the occasional Electrics. He seems to also like to collect pokemon that have red eyes. He tells his teammates that they remind him of his older brother's Sharingan Eyes.

**1) Absol  
Nickname: **Shiva (Reference to a Hindu god)  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Super Luck  
**Nature: **Adamant

**2) Houndoom  
Nickname: **Cerberus (named after the three-headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld)  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Flash Fire  
**Nature: **Serious

**3) Umbreon  
Nickname: **Eclipse  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Synchronize  
**Nature: **Rash

**4) Typhlosion ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Blaze  
**Gender:** Female  
**Ability: **Blaze  
**Nature: **Sassy

**5) Raichu  
Nickname: **Kovu (um...well Kakashi's Raichu is named Kiara, and both names refer to the Lion King II, so yeah)  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Static  
**Nature: **Impish

**6) Weavile  
Nickname: **Shimo (means 'Frost' ; thanks **Erii**!)  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability:** Pressure  
**Nature: **Quirky

**Legendary Bond: Mew  
Ability: **Synchronize  
**Nature: **Modest  
**Mark: **Left hand

*******

**HARUNO SAKURA **(She's shy around strangers, but is a confident and very strong fighter and trainer. No inner Sakura. She treats Sasuke and Naruto as siblings, and Kakashi as an uncle.)

**Preferrences: **She has no one favorite Pokemon type. She likes ones that can heal themselves or are natural healers. She also seems to take an interest in pokemon that people consider to be weak but evolve into stronger and prettier ones.

**1) Espeon  
Nickname: **Eifie (Japanese name)  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Synchronize  
**Nature: **Quiet

**2) Milotic ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Aura (inspiration from the move 'safeguard')  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Marvel Scale  
**Nature: **Modest

**3) Cherrim  
Nickname: **Blossom (her species on the pokedex)  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Flower Gift  
**Nature: **Jolly

**4) Blissey  
Nickname: **Happiness (Japanese name)  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Natural Cure  
**Nature: **Timid

**5) Dragonite  
Nickname: **Hikari (Japanese for 'Light')  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Inner Focus  
**Nature: **Bashful

**6) Altaria**  
**Nickname: **Kumo (Japanese for 'Cloud')  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Natural Cure  
**Nature: **Sassy

**Legendary Bond: Celebi  
Ability: **Natural Cure  
**Nature: **Quirky  
**Mark: **Left shoulder

*******

**HATAKE KAKASHI **(Still peverted, but he tries to make it subtle. Treats Naruto as a younger brother, Sasuke as a nephew, and Sakura as a niece)

**Preferrences: **Dogs, Trackers, Electric types. He basically likes to collect the ones that remind him of his CUTE nindogs. It's also a bonus for him if they just coincidentally happen to be perverted as well. So much for being subtle.

**1) Manectric  
Nickname: **Raijuu (Japanese for 'thunder beast'; a mythical lightning element creature of Japanese lore)  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Static  
**Nature: **Rash

**2) Jolteon  
Nickname: **Blitz (German for 'lightning')  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Volt Absorb  
**Nature: **Relaxed

**3) Granbull  
Nickname: **Crusher  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Intimidate  
**Nature: **Hardy

**4) Luxray ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Luhmos (it means 'light' or referring to 'light' I think...)  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Rivalry  
**Nature: **Serious

**5) Raichu  
Nickname: **Kiara (a name I really liked when I watched 'The Lion King II'. It's also my female Raichu's name)  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Static  
**Nature: **Gentle

**6) Ditto  
Nickname: **Icchan (I was rememinded of 'Icchan' from Angelic Layer with his 'wiggle wiggle' tendencies lol.)  
**Ability: **Limber  
**Nature: **Bashful

**Legendary Bond: Raikou  
Ability: **Pressure  
**Nature: **Careful  
**Mark:** Right hand

*******

**::TEAM 8::**

**HYUUGA HINATA **(Same persona, yet her confidence is even lower since there was no Naruto during those 5 years)

**Preferrences: **Water Types and maybe ones that can heal themselves of health and status problems. She doesn't want anyone to notice, but it's obvious to everyone she also likes to collect the cute ones.

**1) Azumarill  
Nickname: **Suiren (Japanes for 'water lilly')  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Huge Power  
**Nature: **Bashful

**2) Clefable  
Nickname: **Momo (Japanese for 'peach')  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Cute Charm  
**Nature: **Relaxed

**3) Vaporeon  
Nickname: **Aquali (French name)  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Water Absorb  
**Nature: **Jolly

**4) Corsola  
Nickname: **Sango (Japanes for 'coral')  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Natural Cure  
**Nature: **Quirky

**5) Dewgong ***shiny***  
Nickname: **Kairi (old Japanese word for 'ocean/sea')  
**Gender: **Female  
**Ability: **Hydration  
**Nature: **Mild

**6) Lanturn  
Nickname: **Ran (Japanese for 'orchid')  
**Gender: **Male  
**Ability: **Volt Absorb  
**Nature: **Hasty

**Legendary Bond: Manaphy  
Ability: **Hydration  
**Nature: **Modest  
**Mark:** Left palm

*******

**INUZUKA KIBA **(He's more arrogant and full of himself. He has a soft spot for Hinata though, but in a brotherly way)

**Preferrences: **Any types that are canines or are able to track. It's amazing how in pokemon battles they totally obey him, but outside of the battles they completely ignore orders. Akamaru seems to like to rub that fact into his face.

**1) Mightyena  
Nickname: **Prowler (I thought of Sirius when I was naming this one lol)  
**Ability: **Intimidate  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Bold

**2) Arcanine ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Windie (Japanese name)  
**Ability: **Intimidate  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Adamant

**3) Flareon  
Nickname: **Booster (Japanese name)  
**Ability: **Flash Fire  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Naughty

**4) Granbull  
Nickname: **Jaws (big mouth there)  
**Ability: **Intimidate  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Lax

**5) Zangoose  
Nickname:** Tsume (Japanese for 'claw')  
**Ability: **Immunity  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Brave

**6) Linoone  
Nickname: **Hana (Has a double meaning to her name; 1) Japanese for 'flower' 2) Can you figure it out?)  
**Ability: **Pick Up  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Sassy

**Legendary Bond: **Entei  
**Ability: **Pressure  
**Nature: **Serious  
**Mark: **Right foot

*******

**ABURAME SHINO**(Not much change here. He's still the same silent bug-loving ninja, but with a 'artistic' side)

**Preferrences:** Bug types. No duh! He likes it even better when they are poisenous. Everyone's weary though, as he would accidently end up either stunning, poisening, or putting to sleep the others when he tries various ways to make his bugs' moves more 'creative'.

**1) Ninjask**  
**Nickname: **Tekka (First part of name meaning 'gun fire')  
**Ability: **Speed Boost  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Adamant

**2) Yanmega  
Nickname: **Tonbo (Japanese for 'dragonfly')  
**Ability: **Speed Boost**  
Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Lonely

**3) Ariados  
Nickname:** Arana (Spanish for 'spider')  
**Ability: **Insomnia  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Jolly

**4) Venomoth** *shiny***  
Nickname:** Polilla (Spanish for 'moth')  
**Ability: **Tinted Lens  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Timid

**5) Pinsir  
Nickname:** Kailios (Japanese name)  
**Ability:** Hyper Cutter  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Hardy

**6) Shedinja  
Nickname: **Hollow (his insides are empty)  
**Ability: **Wonder Guard  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Careful

*******

**YUUHI KURENAI **(No major change in her persona. The only exception is her more obvious dislike of Kakashi)

**Preferrences: **Ghost and Psychic types. It would seem she prefers her pokemon females, because everytime she catches a pokemon she wants but finds it to be male, she quickly releases it. The others guess she doesn't want a pokemon peeping on her when she bathes.

**1) Mismagius  
Nickname: **Aivrina ('Ai' means love)  
**Ability: **Levitate  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Modest

**2) Delcatty  
Nickname: **Yosei (Japanese for 'fairy')  
**Ability: **Cute Charm  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Naive

**3) Jynx  
Nickname: **Rougela (Japanese name)  
**Ability: **Forewarn  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Sassy

**4) Girafarig  
Nickname: **Kirin (Japanese for 'giraffe')  
**Ability: **Early Bird  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Mild

**5) Dusknoir ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Meimu (means 'illusion'; thanks again **Erii **^__^)  
**Ability: **Levitate  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Calm

**6) Lopunny  
Nickname: **Mimi (Japanese for 'ears')  
**Ability: **Cute Charm  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Adamant  
**  
Legendary Bond: **Cresselia  
**Ability: **Levitate  
**Nature: **Quiet  
**Mark:** Left thigh

*******

**::TEAM 10::**

**YAMANAKA INO** (Still loud, bossy, and Sasuke's fangirl. Is Sakura's best friend and protector from bullies (not like she actually needs it, but old habits die hard).

**Preferrences: **Grass and Psychic types. Oh, and she likes pretty and beatiful pokemon. I guess the mention of pokemon gaining the personalities of their trainers are true, since her pokemon obviously are very much vain and have loud voices when they are provoked.

**1) Gardevoir  
Nickname: **Rima (I thought of the name BEFORE I knew of Rima from 'Vampire Knights' _)  
**Ability: **Trace  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Modest

**2) Meganium  
Nickname: **Maple (refers to her favorite choice of vegetation)  
**Ability: **Overgrow  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Sassy

**3) Leafeon  
Nickname: **Taiyo (Japanese for 'sun')  
**Ability: **Leaf Guard  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Docile

**4) Persian  
Nickname: **Tama (Japanese for 'jewel')  
**Ability: **Limber  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Relaxed

**5) Bellossom  
Nickname: **Hanako (Japanese for 'flower child')  
**Ability: **Chlorophyll  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Bashful

**6) Roserade ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Thorn (every rose has its thorns; this one actually proves it)  
**Ability: **Natural Cure  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Naughty

**Legendary Bond: **Shaymin  
**Ability: **Natural Cure  
**Nature: **Timid  
**Mark:** Forehead

*******

**NARA SHIKAMARU **(Still a lazyass cloud-watching ninja. Not much of a chance in him actually)

**Preferrences: **He likes to think there are ones that wouldn't be troublesome to take care of, but he finds out every pokemon can be troublesome in their own way. Yet, the others notice he likes to take the types that are naturally smarter than the average mon, or are lazy.

**1) Stantler  
Nickname:** Prongs (Harry Potter reference ^_^)  
**Ability:** Intimidate  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Quirky

**2) Alakazam  
Nickname: **Fudin (Japanese name)  
**Ability: **Synchronize  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Hasty

**3) Slaking  
Nickname: **Slacker (note the 'Truant' X|)  
**Ability: **Truant  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Relaxed

**4) Porygon-Z**  
**Nickname: **Yoken (means 'data'; **Erii** gets another credit)  
**Ability: **Adaptability  
**Nature: **Quiet

**5) Ampharos** *shiny***  
Nickname: **Belle (Reference to its move 'Heal Bell')  
**Ability: **Static  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Careful

**6) Wobbufett  
Nickname: **Himitsu (Japanese for 'secret')  
**Ability: **Shadow Tag  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Lax

*******

**AKIMICHI CHOUJI **(Same Chouji we all know and love. He's not much different than the original one)

**Preferrences:** Pokemon that are butterflies and can use the Rollout move. Like trainer like pokemon, those that are 'big boned' tend to be aggressive when they hear the 'f' word (and no it relates nothing to 'that' cussing word).

**AKIMICHI CHOUJI  
**

**1) Snorlax  
Nickname:** Ronflex (French name)  
**Ability: **Thick Fat  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature:** Relaxed

**2) Butterfree  
Nickname: **Chouki ('Chou' for 'butterfly' and 'ki' for 'tree')  
**Ability: **Compound Eyes  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Jolly

**3) Beautifly ***shiny*  
**Nickname:** Choumi (Japanese for 'beautiful butterfly')  
**Ability:** Swarm  
**Gender:** Female  
**Nature: **Timid

**4) Miltank  
Nickname:** Dairy (got moo moo milk?)  
**Ability:** Thick Fat  
**Gender:** Female  
**Nature:** Bashful

**5) Donphan  
Nickname:** Tusks (the bigger they are, run for your life!)  
**Ability: **Sturdy  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Bold

**6) Hariyama  
Nickname: **Yokuhouman (means 'pleasantly plump'; another for **Erii**)  
**Ability: **Guts  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Serious

*******

**SARUTOBI ASUMA **(Not much change either. Still smokes, still likes playing Shouji w/ Shikamaru)

**Preferrences:** It would seem he has favoritism over Poisen types, but he favors no particular type. He likes the ones that have high attack rate and ones that can produce smoke. Too bad Smokescreen doesn't always work, as he renders everyone and even himself unable to see.

**1) Weezing  
Nickname: **Smog (attack reference; yeah lame)  
**Ability: **Levitate  
**Gender:** Male  
**Nature: **Hardy

**2) Nidoking  
Nickname: **Siegfried (Named after a legendary hero in Norse mythology)  
**Ability: **Rivalry  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Brave

**3) Nidoqueen  
Nickname: **Brunhilde (Named after a Valkyrie in Norse mythology)  
**Ability:** Poison Point  
**Gender:** Female  
**Nature: **Mild

**4) Charizard ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Kurogane (Japanese for 'black steel')  
**Ability: **Blaze  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Adamant

**5) Crobat  
Nickname: **Iksus ('Iks' pronounced as 'X')  
**Ability:** Inner Focus  
**Gender:** Female  
**Natu****re: **Rash

**6) Ursaring  
Nickname: **Crescent (named for Teddiursa's moon shaped mark)  
**Ability: **Guts  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Bold

*******

**::TEAM GAI::**

**TENTEN **(Her only change is her more aggressive and dislike nature towards Neji.)

**Preferrences: **She doesn't prefer any type. She likes mainly the ones that have good arsenal with them and have keen eye sight and speed. She expects them to always land a hit on their opponent. Too bad Neji always ends up as the intended target.

**1) Scizor  
Nickname: **Blade (named for Sycther's sharp-armed blades)  
**Ability: **Technician  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Sassy

**2) Marowak  
Nickname: **Knogga (German name)  
**Ability:** Rock Head  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Gentle

**3) Rapidash  
Nickname: **Kasumi ('Ka' is for 'summer'; overall, name is meant to mean 'mist')  
**Ability: **Flash Fire  
**Gender:** Female  
**Nature: **Jolly

**4) Armaldo ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Armor (reference to his armor)  
**Ability: **Battle Armor  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Brave

**5) Minun  
Nickname: **Minong (Korean name)  
**Ability: **Minus  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Careful

**6) Plusle  
Nickname: **Posipi (French name)  
**Ability: **Plus  
**Gender:** Female**  
Nature: **Naive

**Legendary Bond: Lugia  
Ability: **Pressure  
**Nature: **Calm  
**Mark: **Right Arm

*******

**HYUUGA NEJI **(Still the stuck up bastard that believes in fate. He's more aggressive towards Hinata, but Tenten's there to stop him)

**Preferrences:** Flying types. Of course it helps when they too also believe in fate, but it seems his Xatu is the only one that actually does. When the two are in 'conversational fate mode', Neji's other pokemon tend to tune them out or plain out ignore them.

**1) Xatu  
Nickname: **Skuld (named after one of the goddesses of fate; the goddess of the 'Future')  
**Ability: **Synchronize  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Calm

**2) Pidgeot  
Nickname: **Hane (Japanese for 'feather')  
**Ability: **Keen Eye  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Hardy

**3) Noctowl  
Nickname: **Foresight (a view of the future)  
**Ability: **Insomnia  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Quirky

**4) Togekiss  
Nickname: **Verdandi (named after one of the goddesses of fate; the goddess of the 'Present')  
**Ability: **Serene Grace  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Docile

**5) Staraptor ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Peregrine (named after the Peregrine falcon, go figure; he's sometimes called 'raptor' on occasion)  
**Ability: **Intimidate  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature:** Lonely

**6) Honchkrow  
Nickname: **Urd (named after one of the goddesses of fate; the goddess of the 'Past')  
**Ability: **Super Luck  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature:** Mild

**Lengendary Bond: Jirachi  
Ability: **Serene Grace  
**Nature: **Jolly

*******

**ROCK LEE **(Same persona, yet his determine streak to defeat Neji is more off the charts)

**Preferrences:** Fighting types and have high speed, but he'll take any that doesn't mind rigorous training to become stronger. Now if only his pokemon team would stop raging out the 'FLAMES OF YOUTH', then the others wouldn't promptly want to 'kill' them every 10 seconds.

**1) Hitmontop  
Nickname: **Topper (he's a top -_-)  
**Ability: **Intimidate  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Bold

**2) Vigaroth  
Nickname: **Spirit (refers to his ability)  
**Ability: **Vital Spirit  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Hardy

**3) Pachirisu ***shiny*  
**Nickname: Squee **(uh...squeal?)  
**Ability: **Pick Up  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Jolly

**4) Medicham  
Nickname: **Charmina (French name)  
**Ability: **Pure Power  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Calm

**5) Breloom  
Nickname: **Spore (Idea by **Erii** but I prefer using the English word)  
**Ability: **Poison Heal  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Adamant

**6) Lucario  
Nickname: **Anubis (named after the Egyptian god of the afterlife)  
**Ability: **Inner Focus  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Brave

*******

**MAITO GAI** (Has the same persona. He's even more competitive w/ Kakashi due to his 5 year absence from Konoha)

**Preferrences:** Same as Lee's preferrences, including the part with the 'FLAMES OF YOUTH' and 'promptly want to 'kill' every 10 seconds' part. But it seems for Gai it's every 5 seconds.

**1) Hitmonlee  
Nickname: **Wakamono ('Youth' by **Erii **although I hope you don't mind me using it on Hitmonlee instead)  
**Ability: **Reckless  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Serious

**2) Machamp  
Nickname: **Guts (reference to his other ability)  
**Ability: **No Guard  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Adamant

**3) Sudowoodo ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Usokki (Japanese name)  
**Ability: **Rock Head  
**Gender****: **Male  
**Nature: **Jolly

**4) Shuckle  
Nickname: **Haruko (I intended for the kanjis to be 'Spring-_haru_' and 'Child-_ko_')  
**Ability: **Sturdy  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Timid

**5) Torkoal  
Nickname: **Kaji ('Fire'; name came from **Erii**, but used on a different Pokemon)  
**Ability: **White Smoke  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Bashful

**6) Poliwrath  
Nickname: **Wrath (be careful of his wrath)  
**Ability: **Damp  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Bold

*******

**::SAND TEAM::**

**GAARA** (His persona's the same. The only diffrence is that he finds himself having a soft spot for a certain girl)

**Preferrences: **Ground types. No duh! However, he also approves of pokemon that are resilient to Sandstorm and have high defense.

**1) Sandslash  
Nickname: **Tanuki (Japanese for 'racoon dog')  
**Ability: **Sand Veil  
**Gender:** Male  
**Nature:** Jolly

**2) Dugtrio  
Nickname: **Digster (he's a digger)  
**Ability: **Arena Trap  
**Gender:** Male  
**Nature:** Hardy

**3) Steelix  
Nickname: **Shippou (I think it means 'tail', but I also think it means something else too)  
**Ability: **Rock Head  
**Gender:** Male  
**Nature:** Gentle

**4) Tyranitar  
Nickname: **Iwaeki (Means 'rock lizard'; yet another for **Erii**)  
**Ability: **Sandstream  
**Gender:** Female  
**Nature:** Adamant

**5) Rhyperior ***shiny*  
**Nickname:** Rhynos (from rhino)  
**Ability:** Solid Rock  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature:** Brave

**6) Hippowdon  
Nickname: **Sabaku (Japanese for 'desert')  
**Ability: **Sandstream  
**Gender:** Female  
**Nature:** Docile

**Legendary Bond: **Groudon  
**Ability: **Drought  
**Nature:** Naughty

*******

**TEMARI **(The same, no major diffrence in her persona. Only that she's a bit less afraid of Gaara)

**Preferrences:** Flying types, yet she likes the ones that are resilient to the move Sandstorm.

**1) Skarmory ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Sora (Japanese for 'sky')**  
Ability: **Keen Eye  
**Gender:** Female  
**Nature:** Lonely

**2) Aerodactyl  
Nickname: **Amber (Refers to the 'Old Amber')**  
Ability: **Rock Head  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature:** Relaxed

**3) Flygon  
Nickname: **Tempest (makes very big ones too)  
**Ability:** Levitate  
**Gender:** Male  
**Nature:** Docile

**4) Gliscor  
Nickname:** Fang (c'mon it looks like a vampire)  
**Ability: **Sand Veil  
**Gender:** Male  
**Nature:** Naive

**5) Lunatone  
Nickname: **Luna (Latin for 'moon')  
**Ability: **Levitate  
**Nature:** Calm

**6) Solrock  
Nickname: **Solance (Reference to the Latin word for 'sun')  
**Ability: **Levitate  
**Nature:** Careful

*******

**KANKUROU **(No change, he's the same person as in the anime)

**Preferrences: **He has no type preferrence. He collects ones that have immunities to specific status problems and the technique Sandstorm.

**1) Banette  
Nickname: **Marionette (it's a puppet Pokemon)**  
Ability: **Insomnia  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Naughty**  
**

**2) Claydol  
Nickname: **Kaorine (French name)  
**Ability: **Levitate  
**Nature: **Mild

**3) Cacturne  
Nickname: **Noctus (Japanese name)  
**Ability: **Sand Veil  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature:** Impish

**4) Smeargle  
Nickname: **Farbe (German for 'color')  
**Ability: **Own Tempo  
**Gender:** Female  
**Nature: **Hasty

**5) Kecleon  
Nickname: **Chameleon (yet another for **Erii**)  
**Ability:** Color Change  
**Gender:** Male  
**Nature: **Timid

**6) Probopass ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Kyomen (Means 'big face'; **Erii's** idea not me, nope Xl)**  
Ability: **Sturdy  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Lax

**  
*****

**::OTHERS::**

**UCHIHA ITACHI **(Same persona in the anime, but he has a VERY soft spot for his little brother. He's still a member of Akatsuki)

**Preferrences: **He has no type favorite. He likes the ones that have high attack power, defensivee power, and speed. He expects no less then perfection from his team. It's a good thing Sasuke softens him up, or else his pokemon would end up in the infirmary more than once.

**1) Absol  
Nickname: **Ashura (Reference to Hindu deities)  
**Ability: **Pressure  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Serious

**2) Magmortar  
Nickname:** Kashou (Japanese for 'burn'; that's the last for **Erii**)  
**Ability: **Flame Body  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Modest

**3) Sharpedo  
Nickname: **Samehada (Japanese for 'shark')  
**Ability: **Rough Skin  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature: **Naughty

**4) Blaziken ***shiny***  
Nickname: **Ifrit (In the Islam religious text, Ifrit are fiery Genies. In popular culture, they are depicted as fire elemental beasts or fire demons. This one's name is the former.)  
**Ability: **Blaze  
**Gender:** Male  
**Nature: **Impish

**5) Garchomp  
Nickname: **Riku (Old Japanese word for 'land')  
**Ability: **Sand Veil  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Bold

**6) Metagross  
Nickname:** Gin (Japanese for 'silver')  
**Ability: **Clear Body  
**Nature: **Lax

**Legendary Bond: **Mewtwo  
**Ability: **Pressure  
**Nature:** Calm  
**Mark:** Right leg

*******

**HAKU **(Totally different in personality than the one we know, but the core that makes Haku, Haku, is still there; hates perverts and is money obsessed)

**Preferrences: **Ice types go figure. Haku's an exception to the rule of having only one fourth generation Pokemon on the team.

**1) Glaceon  
Nickname: **Yukiko (Japanese for 'snow child')  
**Ability: **Snow Cloak  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Serious

**2) Kingdra  
Nickname: **Kaiba (Japanese for 'seahorse')  
**Ability: **Sniper  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature:** Impish

**3) Walrein  
Nickname: **Fubiki (Japanese for 'snowstorm')  
**Ability: **Ice Body  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature:** Jolly

**4) Froslass ***shiny*  
**Nickname: **Yukihime (Japanese for 'snow princess'; I think that's how you spell it)  
**Ability: **Snow Cloak  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Modest

**5) Lapras  
Nickname: **Undine (Named after a water nymph of Greek mythology)  
**Ability: **Water Absorb  
**Gender: **Female  
**Nature: **Quirky

**6) Cloyser  
Nickname:** Shinju (Japanese for 'pearl')  
**Ability: **Skill Link  
**Gender: **Male  
**Nature:** Rash

**Legendary Bond: Articuno  
Ability: **Pressure  
**Nature:** Sassy  
**Mark: **Chest area where the heart is

**:END OF LIST:**

**Next Chapter: **Prologue: An Early Start: of Shiny Foxes and Rude Wake-up Calls


	2. Prologue: An Early Start

**LEGENDARY DREAMS**

**by Eevetta**

**Anime: **Naruto/Pokemon crossover

**Rating: **For the first couple chapters it's rated T, but overall, it's K+

**Genre: **Action/Adventure/General/Humor

**Pairings: **ovearall a friendship fic, but there are Sakura/Gaara and Naruto/Hinata moments as well as others...

**Warnings:** Swearing, OOCness, strong Sakura (don't like? too bad for you)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, Pokemon, or any other Anime cameos that appear in this story. I only own SOME of the OC characters.

***

PROLOGUE: **An Early Start:** of Shiny Foxes and Rude Wake-up Calls

RING RING RING!

A groan was only the response given as the boy just rolled over in his sleeping position.

RING RING RING!

Again no response except loud snores.

At the foot of the bed, a beautiful silvery white fox with nine tails began to stir at the sound, but she also refused to get out from her comfortable position. As the alarm clock kept ringing, the fox had no choice but to wake up and grudgingly open her eyes, revealing bright ruby red hues. She then stood up and walked annoyingly towards the infernal alarming device, trails of sparkiling stars falling towards the ground and disappearing.

Seriously, what was the purpose of humans ever creating such noisy appliances? The fox didn't have a clue, but nonetheless didn't dive deeper into the the matter. What mattered now was shutting it up. She lifted herself half way on the bed and used her paw to press down at the stop button her owner told her to press. Whew, finally the ringing stopped.

The vixen then made out the time. 9:00 AM. Wasn't her owner supposed to meet his team at 9? Giving out a sigh, she proceeded to wake up her human the usual way. A few nudges to begin with and if that didn't work, she'd start nipping at his earlobes and maybe his hands and clothes. If that didn't work either, she then resorted to her most used method.

Not wanting to damage his blanket again or pillow, she thrust them down on the floor, leaving the blonde with only the bedsheets. She inhaled and opened her mouth, letting out a jet stream of fire aiming straight at the boy. The result was instantaneous.

Her human jump at least 5 ft in the are and started flailing as his clothes were on fire and shouting out for someone to put the flames out. She watched for a bit, amusement playing in her eyes, yet she knew she shouldn't let him suffer for long. Grabbing the nearby bucket of water she prepared for with one of her tails, she let it spray over the now soggy blonde. Naruto glared at his fox as he saw the laughter in her eyes.

"Grr, Shirahime." Shirahime just gave a foxy smile.

Good morning to you too Naru-chan! responded the white fox in her language.

"Why did you have to wake me up early in the morning on a Saturday?" he grumbled as he glanced at the clock to see it was 9:05.

Weren't you supposed to meet Sasuke-san and Sakura-chan at the front of the academy right now? You are participating in the Chunnin Exams correct? At that, Naruto's eyes went wide.

"Shit I totally forgot! And I'm already late! Dammit why didn't you wake me up earlier!-?"

I tried, but you still kept sleeping like a little kitling. Better hurry up, the exam starts 20 minutes from now. Naruto again cursed as he stripped out of his wet pajamas, dried himself off, and and put on his outfit.

It consisted of orange pants with large black stripes running down at both sides and at the hem, a black sleeveless shirt with the Uzumaki swirl on it, an orange and black jacket with two pockets at its sides that covered over his shirt, black ninja sandels, and lastly a necklace that held a small red and white ball was around his neck.

He then grabbed his forehead protector on the side table and tied it across his forehead. He hastily chewed on an energy bar and decided to bring some with him just in case he was either hungry or low on energy. He then yanked out the ball from his necklace and pressed the center to enlarge it.

"Times a wasting Shirahime, return." A red light from the middle of the balled shot out towards the white fox, engulfing her entire being. Shirahime didn't resist a bit, knowing what the light's purpose was. The light soon dissolved and returned inside the ball. Naruto pressed the middle again to return it to its original size.

He stuck it back in its holder on his necklace, and after double checking he had everything with him, rushed out the door and locked it with his house key. He yelped when he looked down at his watch to see that he only had 7 minutes left before the exam started. He didn't need time to waste, so he decided to go into 'turbo drive' mode.

"Alright! Chuunin exams here I come!"

**:NARUTO:**

**TBC…**

**:NARUTO:**

Their arrival in the Pokemon world won't be for a couple of chapters. Don't worry though, Team 7's Pokemon will appear throughout the story before then.

NEXT CHAPTER: **Konohagakura 1: **The Start of the Chuunin Exams: of Paper Tests, Snake Marks, and Sand Blossoms


	3. Konohagakure 1: The Chuunin Exams

**LEGENDARY DREAMS**

**by Eevetta**

**Anime:** Naruto/Pokemon crossover

**Rating: **For the first couple chapters it's rated T, but overall, it's K+

**Genre: **Action/Adventure/General/Humor

**Pairings: **ovearall a friendship fic, but there are Sakura/Gaara and Naruto/Hinata moments as well as others...

**Warnings: **Swearing, OOCness, strong Sakura (don't like? too bad for you)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, Pokemon, or any other Anime cameos that appear in this story. I only own SOME of the OC characters.

***

KONOHAGAKURE 1: **The Chuunin Exams:** of Paper Tests, Snake Marks, and Sand Blossoms

Team 7 gave awed looks to the many competitors in the room. There were so many that everytime they tried to see how many people there were, they'd lose count to about 80. Naruto massaged his throbing head. It still hurt after the smacking Sakura had given him due to his extreme tardiness. He did manage to get near the entrance with 3 minutes to spare, but to say his team was surprised that he was even later than their teacher was an understatement.

Kakashi almost fainted at the thought that his 'nephew' even tried copying his habit of always being late for something; Naruto was the type who didn't like wasting any valuable time he had. The blonde had retorted that he would never in a million years do such a thing, and that the reason he was late was because Shirahime didn't wake him any earlier. Said fox in her confinement was fuming at that statement. Oh was her human so gonna receive the end of a Flamethrower from her when he called her out.

They were so busy with their astonishment that they were totally oblivious to the glares the other ninjas were giving them. Their trance was broken though when a high pitch squeal was heard. Sasuke groaned when a blonde haired girl jumped a hug on him. Good thing he was able to prevent himself from falling, or he'd further be embarassed.

"Sasuke-kun you finally made it! Where've you been, 'cutie'? I'm so excited seeing you again after all this time!" Sasuke sighed.

"Hi Yamanaka. Now would you please let go of me? You're cutting off my circulation." The girl pouted.

"Aw, you're no fun. And don't be so formal, call me Ino (insert heart)."

"Whatever. Now let go." Reluctantly Ino took herself off the Uchiha before he became even more irritated with her. It was then she spotted her childhood best friend. The pink-haired girl gave her a shy smile.

"Hello Ino-chan."

"Hey Sakura," Ino smiled back.

She then noticed the medium sized, cat-like creature sitting next to her friend's feet. It was a unique shade of lavender with breath-taking amethyst eyes. A red gem could be seen on its forehead gleaming beautifully under the sunlight that filtered in the room. Ino had seen the creature many times before as it followed the pink-haired girl every where she went. She still didn't know if it was actually a cat or something else, but she didn't pry in questioning Sakura about where she got such a mystifying pet.

"Hi there Eifie, it's nice to see you again," she cooed as she petted the creature's head.

"Espe! You too!" she greeted. Another thing Ino found weird; instead of a 'meow', she always said 'Espe', 'Espeon', or 'eon'. That alone gave her doubts that it was actually a cat.

"Anyways Sakura, I meant what I asked earlier to Sasuke-kun, where've you guys been? You've hardly made it on time before entrance to this room was denied."

"Well, we could have been here at an earlier time…" she then glared at Naruto who nervously scratched the back of his head. "…if it weren't for a certain 'little brother' of mine waking up late. And he was the one who said he'd get here before any of us does." The blonde boy flushed at that, but gave a 'humph'.

"Heh, figures the idiot would be the fault of Sasuke-kun's tardiness," snorted Ino.

"Aw, don't be so rough on Otouto, Ino-chan. He was probably just too excited to sleep. I know Sasuke and I were."

"I don't get why you three would be so hyped up about some troublesome test," replied an annoyed voice. They turned to see Ino's other two teammates Shikamaru and Chouji walking their way. "Let's just flunk this thing so we can save ourselves the embarassement."

"Like we'd do anything like that you lazy ass," Naruto chided. "We've been waiting for months for this exam to start since we returned here to Konoha."

"Oh yeah, you guys went 'missing' for five years. Frankly I'm curious to know why you guys were gone, but it's too troublesome to ask. You guys would probably not answer anyway." The blonde smirked.

"You better believe it Shikamaru." The pineapple-haired boy just rolled his eyes.

"Hey, there you guys are," called out a voice. At the sight of who it was, Naruto's smirk grew.

"Well if it isn't 'mutt boy'. I'm surprised you decided to show your face after I kicked your butt yesterday Kiba." His response was a glare.

"You just got lucky you dope. Next time I'll be the one to kick your butt!"

"Uh huh, keep telling yourself that. You're still beneath me and will always be for the rest of your ninja career."

"Why you little…" the Inuzuka was about to tackle the blonde, but his teammate held him back. "Grr, Shino let me go, I'll show him not to mock me!"

"Calm yourself Kiba, we'll get diqualified from the exams if you cause any trouble," Shino reprimended him. Next to him, a pretty brunette looked worriedly at them.

"K-Kiba-kun, p-please…d-don't fight," she pleaded to the boy. At the sound of her voice, Kiba immediately stopped his thrashing. He had almost forgotten about Hinata.

If they get kicked out of the exams now, then she would fail it as well, and that'll spell trouble with her at the Hyuuga complex, mainly with her father. He'd only met the head of the clan once, even then he found it the most unpleasant experience he had ever encountered before. The man really had it on his teammate. With all the harsh things he says to his daughter, it was no wonder she was the way she was. Heck even her sister and cousin seem to despise her. Knowing that his teammate wouldn't do anything rash anymore, Shino let him go.

"Bah, just you wait 'fox boy' I'll get you yet." Naruto only blew a raspberry at him.

Far in one of the corners of the room, a leaf nin watched closely at the antics of this year's Rookie Nine. At a mere look, he'd have to say that the bunch was pretty impressive. From reading their nin cards and gauging their chakra levels, he'd say the group had potential to become Chuunins no problem. But he shouldn't say such things lightly; they might have the potential, but not really be able to use it to it's full extent.

Of the whole lot, the ones that intrigued him the most were the three that were trained by the 'Copy Ninja', Hatake Kakashi. According to reports, they had mysteriously vanished from the village 5 years ago, and had without warning appeared in front of Konoha's gate nearly depleted of chakra just a half a year ago. They were questioned after they woke up, but it seemed they didn't feel like giving the full story since they only gave a vague response.

And because of that time gap, he was unable to fully get any info on any of them, with the exception of Kakashi. All he knew were their history backgrounds, and nothing else. He hoped that in this exam, he'd be able to get more insight on their abilities. After the bickering of the two rookie nins, Kabuto decided to take that as cue to greet the bunch. However, before he even got to take a step, a loud 'boom' was heard at the front of the room. When the smoke cleared, he and everyone saw a fair number of proctors present and taking glances at the candidates in the area.

Damn, he had made his move too late. No matter, he'll get the info he desired one way or another. After all, he didn't want to disappoint Lord Orochimaru, less he get a good beating from the defected Sannin. He listened in as the scarred man in the front– who seemed to be the head proctor – start talking.

"Sorry for the late arrival. I'm Morino Ibiki, and I'm the proctor and chief examiner of the first exam," he introduced himself as he gave leers to the Genins in the room. Most shuddered under the look, which Ibiki gladly took in.

"Alright, before we begin, I'll lay some ground rules. Fighting is unacceptable up to this point without the permission of the examiner. Even if it is given, anything that endangers another applicant is strictly forbidden. If any of you go against these rules, consider yourself and your team kicked out of the exams. Do I get my point clear from the lot of you? There will be no second chances."

Seeing that everyone understood, he continued on. He told everyone about turning in their applications and picking up a seating assignment card. Whatever number they got was were they sat. After that he told all of the Genins what they will be doing for the first part of the exam. At the knowledge that it was a paper test, Naruto nearly dropped dead.

Sure he was smarter than the average Genin, especially when you've got a 'sister' that practically was always getting you to study, but that didn't mean he was happy with the idea of doing a written exam. He even swore that Shirahime was laughing her butt off in her ball at his misfortune. It didn't help much with all the rules given. He can understand the process of taking off points when you got a question wrong or if you decided to cheat, and he can too understand the 'team total' thing, but getting diqualified if you get all your points taken away? Man was that strict, yet understandable, even to a person like him.

"N-Naruto-kun." Upon hearing his name, the blonde turned to the person next to him.

"Oh Hinata, it's you." He gave an amuse look at the way the girl started pointing her fingers together, her face stained a light pink. Yes he knew she had a crush on him, and he appreciated her feelings. Yet he didn't think of her as nothing more than a friend, at least for now. Who knows, maybe he'll change his mind later on. He was willing to give her a chance if the opportunity arises, but for now, he'll stick with the friendship he has for her.

"L-let's do our best…Na-Naruto-kun." Naruto gave her a foxey grin.

"Yeah lets. Good luck, Hinata." She nodded and averted her gaze to the test in front of her.

"You have one hour in finishing the test," stated Ibiki. "starting…NOW!" And with that, everyone turned their face down test over and started.

Deciding not to get too worried, Naruto read over the questions one by one to see if he knew any. At the sight of the questions, his eyes nearly bulged. These questions were something Chuunins were made to answer, not Genins! There was no way any Genin in the room was able to answer all of them correctly (well maybe Sakura could and maybe the lazy ass genius Shikamaru can also) with their own intellect. Despite that though, he'll do his best to not bring down his team.

Even through the 5 years they've gone missing, their 'uncle' Kakashi managed to teach him and his team a lot of things. Like the first question mentioning cyrptograpy, heh, no sweat. He was able to read it easily. The only hard part he had to get through was summerizing the meaning. And the second question about applying the laws of kinetics, he could do a little bit of it. Hm, he wondered if their were partial points given.

After answering the ones he knew, he dropped his pencil and sighed. The last question had been a bit confusing for him, and not because he didn't understand. He just wondered why they couldn't have just made it part of the written portion. They all had to wait 45 minutes into the exam before it was given. Oh well, if it said to wait, then wait he shall. But for now, he'd start thinking things over.

He knew his teammates figured it out already and – even though he was slow – he too figured out the purpose behind the test. The proctors wanted them to cheat, to see who were able to get away with it and who couldn't. Those who were caught were the ones that weren't fit to become Chuunin. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have any techniques for spying. If he did, he would have done it by now. He glanced around the room and noticed what some of the Genins were doing. Most of them were obvious while some he had to squint to see.

Not surprisingly Sasuke used his Sharingan (which he already mastered by the way) to copy the hand movements of the person sitting in front of him. Looks like his 'brother' found one of the hidden ringers. Sakura of course was smart enough to answer all of them. Yet just to be sure, Eifi was helping out by means of her psychic powers. She'd read the minds of others around the area and determine which answers were the best ones, and then she'd give Sakura the correct answers to check her work, via their shared mind link.

Kiba used Akamaru to peek into the other peoples' papers and give him the appropriate answers, Shino used his bugs to get the answers for him, and Ino used her Mind Transfer Jutsu on the hidden ringer Sasuke found previously and relayed the info she received to her two teammates. A particular team he spotted was the one that consisted of Hyuuga Neji, Hinata's cousin. He used the Byakugan (along with a simple Genjutsu to mask the bulging veins at the side of his eyes) on another ringer he managed to find.

His female teammate Tenten used mirrors to get the answers for both herself and the one known as Rock Lee. He didn't know them as much as his rookie friends, but he had to say that they were interesting, especially their Sensei Maito Guy, who proclaims himself as Kakashi-Ojisan's 'Eternal Rival'.

Another interesting person was the red-haired guy from Sunagakure. He remembered meeting him after Konohamaru accidently bumped into the guy's painted-faced teammate during their play of 'ninja'. Yes he felt the killing intent flaring from the Suna nin towards the puppet user (yeah he knew he was a puppet user), but it didn't really scare him at all. He had killing intents aimed at him many times to be immune to them, especially the ones he got from Kyuubi whenever he visited him.

He then shook his head on the most obvious cheating method many of the Genins were doing. The 'I-dropped-my-pencil-and-going-to-pick-it-up-and-secretly-look-at-the-person's-paper-next-to-me' gig was so grade school. Even Konohamaru and his friends could think of a better cheating method than that. He saw the dude in front of him do that gig 4 times already, and it looked like he was going to do it once more. Oh that guy was so out.

THOK

"Number 50, that's five strikes, you fail."

See, whaddy he tell ya? He was right on his assumption; the poor Konoha nin didn't know what hit him. With a frustrated sigh, he and his teammates left the room. During the middle of the exam was when teams upon teams were kicked out for getting caught 'cheating'. Naruto felt the morbid atmosphere radiating from the nervous wrecked Genins in the room. He wished he could tell them that everything was going to be fine, that they needed to stay calm and focused, and not let the head proctor's dangerous appeal get to you, but he couldn't do a thing right now but wait until their 45 minutes were up.

Finishing the answer for question 9, Sakura sighed in relief and looked over her work. Being a 'book nerd' as others had called her, certainly had its perks. She fully knew 5 of them and partially knew the other 4 written questions. Thanks to Eifi's help, she was able to finish writing the partial ones with the answer she was given. Thanking her friend, Sakura got out from her pouch a blue block candy, which Eifi was more than happy to be receiving.

She then noticed something. She squinted and made out small grains of floating sand around the paper of the person sitting a few seats in front of her, who was now rubbing his eyes due to some sand getting in them. Few of the particles joined together to form a sort of weird eyeball and it looked down on the Genin's paper. Quick as it appeared, it burst into sand and the eye vanished. The remnants of sand then traveled back to its owner; which so happened to be a certain red-haired Suna shinobi.

Finding out who it was, Sakura inwardly gulped. She knew that boy; Gaara was his name. She met him when his face-painted teammate was bothering Konohamaru. She managed to deck the guy a couple of feet back, while Naruto managed to get the Hokage's grandson away from him. However it was Gaara who prevented the puppeteer from attacking them any futher. At the amount of killer intent he gave his teammate, she had involuntarily shuddered at the feeling.

Sakura remembered him being able to sense her fear, and had locked eyes with her. There were a lot of emotions she was able to pick up; anger, annoyance, and bloodlust were the most she could sense, but there were also others laying underneath those feelings. They included sadness, betrayal, loneliness, and…fear? She wasn't really sure about the last one, because it was only a small flicker. But what she did know was that there was more to this Gaara person than meets the eye.

It frightened her somwhat that part of her wanted to know more about him, yet she was scared stiff whenever she met his gaze. His eyes were the same color as hers, but much much colder. They had read her like an open book, giving him access to all the emotions she felt throughout the years; loneliness, sadness, fear, and anger, and then they turn into happiness, confidence, contentment, and love. She recalled that the last one made him cringe.

She wondered why. Did he not receive any loving at all from his family or friends? From the way he acts, did he even have friends? Did his family love him? And why did she see those very same emotions that she had seen in Naruto (with the exception of bloodlust)? Was he like him, a demon host? Sakura shook her head from all her questions. Those feelings of wanting to know more about the mysterious boy was getting back at her. Eifie felt her friend's confusion and asked if she was alright.

_:I'm fine Eifie, there's nothing to worry about:_

_**:I don't believe you, but I won't pry:**_

_:I appreciate that:_

_**:Just know that I'm here to litsen if you have any problems:**_

_:I will. Thank you, Eifie:_

The Espeon nodded and curled back up on her human's feet to resume her small nap. Sakura petted her head and sctratched her ears as she gave an uncounscous purr. Yup, having a human did sure have its perks.

45 minutes quickly went by and Ibiki called out that he would be now giving the tenth question. At that statement, everyone gave him their full attention. Some of them felt confident that they would be able to answer it correctly, while some felt nervous. One of them being Naruto, but he told himself that he'd gotton this far, so he'll keep going right down to the bitter end. He won't abandon ship now. He can't fail his team!

He and everyone else gave mental 'WTF's' when Ibiki told them the rule to the last question. Everyone had to choose if they wanted to either take the question or not. What kind of rule was that? No sane person would reject it. It's only logic that you would accept it since if you don't, then you get diqualified.

The next and final rule was what made all the Genins give out protests of outrage. If any of them accepted the question but got it wrong, then they would still fail, and the worst part was, that they'd never be able to take the Chuunin exams ever again; it was a no win situation either way. Naruto gulped, but kept telling himself to stay calm. It was one of the things his uncle taught him and his teammates, always stay calm no matter how bad things get. It'll help you think more clearly and be able to find the best solution out of a problem.

When the head proctor asked if there were anyone who wanted to quit now, there was complete silence. Then one after another, Genins started raising their hands and calling it quits. Naruto was disappointed with their lack of spirit, but he could understand their feelings. However, unlike them, he was will to risk staying a Genin forever than easily admit defeat now and quit like a coward. It was then he noticed his 'sister' slowly raise her hand.

WTF is she doing!-? he and Sasuke silently exclaimed in unison. The other people who knew her well enough or too an extent, also gave shocked looks. Was she really doing what they thought she was doing?

Sakura, no, Ino silently cried to herself.

Naruto was about to yell at her to stop when she punched her hand turned fist down hard on the table, creating a hole in it. Everyone either gulped in fright, gapped at her, or did both with their eyes widen at the sight of the large hole on the wooden desk. Eifie was able to get away from the falling debris before she got splinters. What Sakura said next made all the Rookie Nine shocked.

"DON'T underestimate me or my friends just because we're rookies! We won't run and we won't quit just because you tell us to! We'll risk being Genins forever, because we'll become the strongest ninjas Konoha's ever seen, even if we achive it from pure stuborness alone we don't care! So give us your damn stupid question, we're NOT afraid of you! Right guys!-?"

She looked at each of her friends in the eye, keeping them especially on her two brothers who were gapping at her in awe. Getting out from his shock, Naruto grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

"You're right Neesan, we won't quit and we won't run away." Sasuke also got out from his stupor and smirked back.

"And no matter the circumstances we'll go through with this all the way, because taking the safer and easier way out is a coward's path." Slowly, One by one, each rookie added their two cents and gave determined and unafraid looks to Ibiki. Said man was very impress, but he needed to be sure of their choice.

"I'll ask you once more, are you sure of your choice? This decision will no doubt end up affecting your entire lives. Quit now while you still have a chance." He was mildly surprised when they didn't even batter an eyelid. It was Naruto that made the next move.

"No way, we never go back on our word,"

"BECAUSE THAT'S OUR NINJA WAY!" all the rookies simutaneously voiced out loud.

They may have not known each other that long, but they'd be damned to have their pride as ninjas be ruined by looking like lil' 'fraidy cats'. Also, being around team 7 for many joined missions had greatly affected their perspective on ninja life, especially around Naruto. The mission to wave country was the experience the Genins would never forget; the death of Haku and Momochi Zabuza being the highlight of finally opening their eyes to the real world of being in the ninja profession. Ninjas are tools to their country and nothing more. You couldn't even care about your own existence.

However, the rookies didn't want to think themselves as 'just' tools. Always voicing out the opinions, Naruto had stated that he'll make his own ninja path and destiny. He considers himself as a tool for Konohagakure, but he also views himself as still a human being with an existence that is needed in the world, whether people believed it or not. And all the promises he'll make, he'll never go back on. This immediately got in through the heads of his fellow Genins, and they adopted it as their ninja way too, openly or secretly.

It was finally after their outburt that all the tense atmosphere in the room vanished. The Jounin looked around to see that 78 Genins were still left in the room. None of them even had an ounce of fear or doubt in them after the Rookie Nine's outburst. It was spoken with such confidence that it was hard not to have your spirits risen up from that one statement alone.

Hm, such interesting and entertaining kids, especially the pink-haired girl that started the whole fiasco. He was also surprised with her abnormal strength. It made him feel like he was once again in the presence of the Legendary Sannin Tsunade. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that he was looking at her younger self or her future apprentice (a/n: heh, how an ironic thought huh?). He looked towards the other proctors who gave him nods back. There was no point dragging it out any longer since no one else were willing to quit.

"Very good call. Now for everyone that's still here…" Everyone tensed. This was it, the final question that would decide their careers as ninjas. Would they make it? Would they remain Genins forever? Everyone was so caught up in their thoughts that they almost didn't catch what Ibiki had just said.

"Wait, say that again," a random Genin spoke up.

"I said, Congratulations, you've all just passed the first exam!" There was silence…and then,

"WHAT!-?"

**:NARUTO:**

Despite the ominous presense of the forest, Naruto and his team seem to not let it affect them even in the slightest bit. Maybe it was because this wasn't their first time traveling into a forest with infested danger that they weren't scared. Or maybe it could be that they were still soaking the events that happened earlier. After the sudden outburst, there were many questions on why they all past when there wasn't even a tenth question. Naruto remembered the annoyance he felt when Ibiki said that.

Although it disappeared when the man explained that the last quesiton was the 'true' question, a 'fight or flight' kind of situation. And he also told how all the questions on the paper test were to see who were able to cheat efficiently and who couldn't. Then he talked about all the responsibilities that a Chuunin must preform, and what the exact quality one needs to possess; valor that inspires those around him who help them overcome their fear. They all admitted that no shinobi are worthy of 'Chuunin' if they always made the easy and weak decisions. It was after that speech when the next proctor came bursting in from the window.

He hated to admit it, but Mitarashi Anko reminded him a lot of himself; no doubt his friends thought the same thing. They both were loud, made unexpected entrances, and ended up one way or another looking like idiots. But at least he wasn't sadistic like her, or had a loving taste for blood. I mean, she might as well be a vampire with all that blood she licked from him when he shouted out that she was only psyching them all out when she tried to scared them with Area #44's nickname of 'The Forest of Death'. He even swore that he saw fangs too. That alone made up his mind to make sure that he'd never stay in a room where it was only him and her.

The second exam was going to be a survival test, the one they were doing right now. It was a darker version of 'Capture the Flag', or in this case 'Capture the Scroll'. The 26 teams were to be given either a Heavan scroll or an Earth scroll after turning in their teams' consent forms, signifying that a person's death wouldn't be held responsible by the head proctor or any of the other ninjas overseeing the exam. To pass the test, a team must obtain both Heaven and Earth scrolls to enter the tower at the center of the training area, with only 5 days to complete.

Disqualification was made if you either lost a teammate, your 5 days were up and you didn't have the necessary scrolls, or if you peeked into the scrolls before reaching the tower. Whatever the consequence was, it didn't sound very reassuring. Oh well, not like they would something like that anyways, Kakashi taught them better than that.

Naruto suddenly stopped in his tracks as his chakra enhanced nose caught 'rain' scented smells, his 'siblings' stopping as well.

"Found a team?" questioned Sakura. The blonde nodded.

"A cell of Rain nins are approximately a kilometer away from us from the west side."

"So 'they' finally get to play?" Sasuke exclaimed excitedly as he caressed one of the red and white miniture balls on his belt. Naruto grinned.

"Yup! So let's have them handle this ordeal. I don't intend wasting my energy on opponents that won't be able to last 5 minutes against our Pokemon."

"You're right about that. Ready for a battle Eifie?"

"Bring it on!" replied the excited Espeon. She'd been waiting practically forever for a battle to fight in ever since the exams started. Her blood began to boil at the thought of having some fun playing with the team from Rain.

"Alright then, Tsubame I choose you!" called out Naruto as he threw an enlarged pokeball into the air. At the same time, Sasuke threw one on the ground.

"Come out, Eclipse!" The balls opened and bursts of light shot out from them.

From Naruto's ball, the light formed to that of a large female swallow, who flew around the area stretching her cramped wings. After her third circle, she landed softely on the blonde's now leather guard arm, who put it on so that his friend's talons wouldn't hurt him. She greeted her trainer and received a loving pat in return.

From out of Sasuke's, formed that of a male black cat-like animal with long slender ears, eerie red eyes, and gold rings adorned on it's body. Upon seeing his owner, he padded quietly to him and rubbed his cheeks on Sasuke's legs. The Uchiha bended down to stroke his sleek black fur with glowing rings, getting out a purr from the creature.

"Alright yout three, a group of Rain ninjas are 2 kilometer away. Your task is to get the scroll from them, regardless if it's a Earth scroll or not, understood?" Sakura inquired the now attentitive Pokemon. They nodded in understanding and got ready to begin their mission. Sasuke spoke up next.

"We'll be following you guys and staying hidden in the trees with a Genjutsu. Naruto and I will connect with Tsubame and Eclipse with the Mind Link Jutsu to help out with plans, while Sakura can just use her telepathic link with Eifie. We'll only intervene in the fight if you guys get into trouble."

Again the Pokemon nodded and disappeared into view. They reappeared up in the treetops; Eifie and Eclipse jumping from branch to branch at a fast pace, with Tsubame flying at the same speed with them in the air, and Team 7 stealthily followed them while keeping to the shadows.

Cloaking themselves with Genjutsu and Naruto and Sasuke using the Mind Link, the three ninja/ pokemon trainers watched from the trees as their little friends commenced their mission. Pretending to mind its own business, Tsubame glided down on the ground and started pecking the dirt. The Rain ninjas who were discussing how to get a scroll from one of the rookie teams, stopped what they were doing and stared wide-eyed at the large bird who seemingly was digging up for some worms.

"Holy….now that's a big bird!" quietly exclaimed one of the nins.

"It's looks plump and juicy enough to eat," suggested another nin. There was no doubt that he was salivating right now from the look he was giving Tsubame.

"It does look big enough for all of us to eat for lunch. I bet there'll still be leftovers for dinner tonight too," the last nin agreed.

"Then let's catch it and cook it!"

"I'll do it!" volunteered the first one as he got out some kunai. From their hiding place, Naruto was fuming at the thought of those ninjas daring to eat his Pokemon.

"Why those f bastards, if they touch one feather on Tsubame, I'll f make sure they'll become Kyuubi's new chew toys!" Sakura and Sasuke sweatdropped as they held back their Otouto from blowing their cover. If it weren't for them even holding him back, he would have already be in front of the nins faces and give them a piece of his mind. And that was never a good thing as his rage meant Kyuubi's rage as well, hence the 'chew toys' remark. They didn't doubt that Kyuubi was liking the idea.

The Rain shinobi took aim and let loose a couple of his kunai, sure of himself that he'll be able to kill the bird. However, they didn't know that this was no ordinary bird; one that was very smart and trained. As the weapons came sailing at her, Tsubame quickly used her Agility technique to get out of harms way. The kunais landed behind the bushes, and 'yelps' could be heard. Not a second later, Eifi and Eclipse came out, growling at them angrily with glowing orbs. The Umbreon's red eyes reminded the nins of the Sharingan, and for a moment they flinched at the sight.

Not wasting time, Eclipse ran in to use a Bite attack on the ninja who threw the kunais. Smirking, the Rain nin evaded to the side, thinking that there was no way for the cat or whatever it was to catch him. A ninja can easily ward off an animal because it wasn't a trained animal right? Oh how wrong he was. When he missed his target, with a burst of speed, Eclipse appeared in front of the startled Ame-nin and clamped his teeth on his arm.

"Argh, you dumb animal, get off!" Try as he might, he couldn't get the Umbreon off his arm. It wasn't until he grabbed the creature's neck that he managed to get it off of him.

:_Eclipse, bite his hand and then use **Screech **on him now!_: cried Sasuke in his friend's head, seeing that the Pokemon was having a bit of trouble breathing.

Obeying, Eclipse forcefully bit the Rain Genin's hand and then gave a ear-piercing screech. It was such unfortunate of him to have received the attack directly in his ear drums. Eclipse watched in satisfaction as his captor yelled in agony of his now blood oozing ear. It'd be awhile before he could hear again. The moonlight Pokemon disappeared from his place, and then reappeared next to Eifie who was having fun floating the other members around in the air with her Confusion technique.

It wasn't long until the Espeon grew bored, that she sent the two to 'dreamland' with a Pyschic attack. While her teammates were enjoying tormenting the Rain team, Tsubame had searched through their packs and soon came across the exact scroll they needed to pass the exam. With the entertainment done, Team 7 canceled their Genjutsu and jumped down from their perch. 'Accidently' stepping 'hard' on the now unconscious, ear-bleeding ninja, Naruto hastily made his way towards his Swellow.

"Tsubame are you ok? Did a kunai ruffle any of your feathers? Did those mean nins scare you? I swear those guys are dead meat for even thing about making you their meal," he fussed over his Pokemon like a mother hen.

I'm fine Naruto-kun, stop worrying Tsubame replied.

"Are you sure?" he asked again. It was then he noticed one of the feahthers of his Swellow's right wing was cut in half. Growling at the sight, he ran back to the unconscious Rain nin and started barrating his form with curses, kicks, and punches, while the whole time shaking him in the process.

The others sweatdropped and Tsubame sighed. His trainer and his overprotectiveness. But at least she knows that he definitely cares for her and his other Pokemon. Knowing that they should be heading to the tower now, Sasuke called out to his teammate.

"Oi, Naruto, you've done enough damage to last him a months time in the hospital. You've made your point, now let's go." Taking one last glare at the three Rain ninjas, Naruto followed his retreating siblings and their Pokemon.

**:NARUTO:**

He just stood there in front of the gates, wondering if it was such a good idea of him to go here by himself. It took awhile for him to ditch his partner, but either way, when he told him that he wanted to be alone, 'Fish Face' would do just that. There mission can wait until after the exams ended – not that he cared though. He had already subdued the Chuunin guards by means of hypnosis, but still debated himself from entering the wide large doors. It had only been last week that his group received the news of the 'Copy Nin', Hatake Kakashi's sudden return to the village, from their spy in Konoha.

He was uninterested about that piece of info, and he didn't bat an eyelash when the Kyuubi's container, Uzumaki Naruto's name was mentioned returning as well. However, it was a different story when Sasuke's name was brought up. He had tensed at the name, and even if he had his emotionless mask still in place, the others saw it. To say that Kisame and Deidara never let it down, annoyed him to no end. When he and his partner were assigned to go to Konoha to retrieve the demon fox's host, he accepted the mission with much silent eagerness as possible.

Since the day he lost Sasuke, he was never able to forgive himself. It was that guilt that made him drown himself in his role of captian of the ANBU. Mission after mission he received, he took without a single thought, hoping that on one of his missions, he would find this little brother. If he did, then he would stop hearing his mother, Mikoto, silently cry to herself when she thought she was alone, as well as himself from having lack of sleep due to dreams of THAT day. As for their father, Fugaku, he might have not shown it, but he too was devestated for his missing son.

Itachi never did know if their father did care about Sasuke or not, but from the way his father was acting, he'd realize how much Fugaku cared. It was at that point that he grew a bit more respect and caring for the man, but even though, Itach was still distant with him. It was a nice chance to start though, but in the end, he never got it. The night he lost everything, was the night he decided to leave his village, his country, and all the hope he had left in him at ever finding Sasuke again.

And now after 5 years, that hope slowly started to return. If it was true that this brother was alive and well in the village, he was not going to pass up on this opportunity for a second chance, even if in the end he'll betray Akatsuki. He never really like the others anyway, so it didn't matter if he left or not. The only problem was that they'll come after him now, but that was insignificant to him. All he'll need to do was use his Mengekyou Sharingan and send they off to a world of 72 hours worth of hurt. Of course there was the strain his eyes will have to endure, but that too wasn't important.

What was, was the person behind these walls of Konohagakure. Making up his mind, Itachi walked through the gates and disappeared into thin air. His first stop, the Hokage's office.

**:NARUTO:**

Looking around her surroundings and checking for any chakra signitures, she sighed in relief when she deemed it safe. She laid down Eifie and rummeged through her small pack for an Antidote. Spraying the medicine on to her Espeon, she watched as Eifie's irregular breathing returned to normal and her scrunched up face relax. However, her mild fever was still there. Getting out her water bottle, she twisted the cap open and poured some of the contents on a piece of small cloth.

Twisting the cap back on, she laid it down to the side. She then wrung the cloth to get rid of some of the excess water, folded it in half, and laid it on Eifi's forehead. As she nursed her Pokemon back to health, Sakura's thoughts wandered to the events that just happened recently. It had happened so suddenly. As they were making their way to the tower, a sudden powerful gust of wind flew at them.

Pushing her teammates – and her Espeon doing the same to their Pokemon – she and Eifie took the direct hit and were blown away threw the threes, seperating themselves with the others. If you thought that was bad, how'd you feel encountering yourself with a gigantic snake that almost ate you alive? That blasted snake ended up poisening her precious friend, and decided to get away from it in order to treat her Espeon rather then kill it now. She distracted it with a Genjutsu, so she was able to get away easily from it. Now her problem was finding her teammate.

But how to start? She couldn't use Espeon to link her mind with the others because of her condition, and she was never good at tracking like Naruto was. Wait a minute…tracking. An imaginary light bulb lit on top of her head. She'd almost forgotten her contract with the dogs, thanks to her uncle Kakashi. Biting her thumb to draw out blood, she smeared it across her left palm and did the handseals for the summoning technique.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning technique)!" A smoke appeared when she slammed her hand on the ground. From it appeared a small pug dog.

"Yo, Sakura."

"Hi Pakkun, I really need your help right now. I got seperated from Otouto and Sasuke and I need to find them quickly. There's no telling what trouble they're in right now. Would you please help me?" The dog gave a salute.

"No problem, I'll get to it right away." While Pakkun was sniffing around to catch the scent of Sakura's siblings, the girl went to repack her things. "I've found their scent, and another's. It reeks of snake."

"Then let's not waste time, take me to then," the pink-haired girl commanded the dog, returning Eifie into her unused Pokeball – who really detested them, but she now won't have any choice in the matter; Sakura wasn't going to carry her all the way. Pakkun nodded and led the girl towards the direction of her teammates.

However, before they even took a step foreward, a roaring hissing sound filled the area. From out of the trees came the very same gigantic snake that Sakura had encountered earlier. It seemed to have somehow broken her illusion and had managed to track her down.

"Shit," cursed Sakura. The snake lifted its tail and send it down straight at them. "Pakkun!" she cried out as she reached out to pick up the small dog.

Just as the tail came slamming down, she narrowly dodged to the side. The force of the vibration made by the tail though, sent her hitting the trunk of a tree. She yelped at the painful contact as Pakkun looked to her with concern. Seeing that it missed, the snake hissed furiously and decided to attack with its poisenous fangs instead. The two could only watch in horror as it striked at them, fangs exposed with dripping venom.

**::NARUTO::**

He stopped in his tracks as an unpleasant smell of snake met his sensitive nose. That wasn't a problem though. If it happened to show up and attack, then he'll just kill it with his sand. However, there were other scents that he caught mixed in with the snakes'. One of them was unmistakenly a dog's smell – which he really hated – and the other…

He sniffed the air again to try and get the scent. He found it to be the exact sweet scent that he came to like, a very foreign smell to people from Sand; it was the smell of cherry blossoms. He had found a sakura tree not long after they arrived in Konoha, and had been addicted to its scent since then. From all the people of Konoha, there was only one person who he remembered having that smell. It was a surprise to him that someone would actually smell of his now favorite flowers.

If he recalled correctly, it was that pink-haired girl from the Uchiha's team. There was something parculiar about that girl, he realized the moment he locked eyes with her. He had sensed her fear, yet her emerald gaze stayed in tact with his. However, what he didn't like about her eyes was that it seemed to penetrate past his guarded ones easily. She was able to read each and everyone of his emotions, including the last one he gave out…fear.

He had to be wary of that girl, she was dangerous for his state of mind. But that didn't mean that he'd easily get rid of her, no, he wouldn't get rid of the only person he knew with the scent of cherry blossoms. If given the chance, he'd probably want to keep her as close as possible. Temari and Kankurou gave questioned looks to their younger sibling as he stared at the sky in some sort of daze.

"Gaara, are you okay, is something wrong?" asked his sister in concern. The red head didn't say anything for awhile before getting out of his trance.

"It's…nothing," he replied. Suddenly, a loud hissing roar was heard coming not to far from where they were. Without warning, Gaara suddenly ran to the direction of where the snake and possibly, the girl with the pink hair, were at. All the way, he ignored his sibling's shouts of wanting to know where he was going. They weren't the boss of him, so he didn't have to give them an answer.

Reaching his destination, he saw the gigantic snake just ready to launch a tail whip at the figure carrying a small nindog. He was right, it was the girl from the Uchiha's cell. His siblings arrived and all three watched as the girl narrowly escaped the full blow of the snake's tail. However, the after effects of it knocked her towards a tree.

"Hey, isn't that the pink-haired girl from yesterday who decked you Kankurou?" questioned Temari as he gave a slight smirk towards her brother. Kankurou gave a growl as he absentmindly rubbed his face. Oh he rememered the girl alright, the one who embarrassed him in front of the others.

"Little b, thinks she's able to get away from embarassing me. I hope she does get eaten by that snake." The next thing he knew, sand was around his neck and choking him. The two turned to their youngest brother who gave Kankurou the deadliest glare he had ever given him.

"Say something like that again about her, I'll kill you." And with that he released his sand choke hold. The two siblings gave him shocked looks to his response to that statement. It even shocked them more when he started to perform his signature jutsus. It was then they noticed the snake strike at the pink-haired kunoichi who was paralyzed by fear.

"SABAKUKYU (Coffin of Crushing Sand)!" Before the snake got an inch from its prey, sand covered its entire being. Sakura and Pakkun's eyes widened at the struggling snake caught in the sand.

That technique…who…?

"SABAKUSOSO (Imploding Sand Funeral) She gave a jerk when the sand crushed the snake and blood started spewing out in every direction, even on herself and Pakkun. The sand then receded and when she got a glimpse of who it was that saved her, she gulped.

"Ga-Gaara," she whispered shakily. As if he'd heard her, the red head turned to her. Sakura flinched at the stare, but did not run. It would be rude to do so, especially when he'd just saved her life. Using the trunk of the tree for support, she stood up with shaking legs. Having no grudge against the girl, Temari walked over and helped her up. Seeing that since Gaara was not going to kill her, she might as well get acquainted with her. Besides, whoever's able to punch Kankurou that far back was okay in her book.

"You okay kid?" she asked. Sakura nodded and thanked the older girl. "You should feel lucky kid, Gaara rarely saves anyone like that. He usually does the opposite."

Great, and that's supposed to make me feel better? Sakura bitterly thought to herself. She then remembered about her teammates. She had to find them! Getting herself from the blonde girl's grasp, she backed away and looked at them with apologetic eyes.

"Sorry, but I have to go find my team." Just as she was about to make her exit, to Temari and Kankurou's surprise, Gaara stopped her.

"Wait, tell me your name." Sakura again locked gazes with those of the Sand nin. She wondered why he would ask…no, demand such a thing. She gave him a serene smile, one that caused something inside Gaara to stir.

"I already know your name, so I guess it's only fair to give you mine. It's Sakura, Haruno Sakura. And thank you for saving me, Gaara-kun." And with that she turned and disappeared from the Sand trio's sight.

The others just stood there shocked at what just happened. Did they hear her say what they thought she said? She called Gaara with the 'kun' ending? The red head boy just blinked at the suffix the girl had given her, Temari got out of her gapping expression and sent secret sly smiles to her baby brother, and Kankurou…well he just continued to stay in his 'shocked' stupor.

::NARUTO::

"We're getting closer Sakura, and I'm smelling a strong scent of snakes," called out Pakkun. Sakura grimaced.

"Great, just what we need, more snakes." She absentmindly whiped the blood still on her cheek away with her hand as she thought back to the event earlier.

Gaara had saved her and Pakkun from death, and to that she was grateful. She was correct to assume that there was more to him than what meets the eye. Now all she need to do was try to get him to warm up a bit more. She was sure that if he did, then he'd stop killing people for no reason at all. But first, she had to start getting comfortable around him if she wanted to open up his closed shell.

"Sakura, we're here!" Snapping out of her thoughts, Sakura gave a gasped look when she saw Naruto and Tsubame passed out on one of the branches, and Sasuke and Eclipse fighting against a Grass ninja.

Jumping towards the branch, she checked to see how her little brother was holding up. Nothing noticable seemed to change, but his seal seemed to be tampered with. She would have to take him to the Hokage to get it fixed. Evil laughter that sent shivers down her spine came from the Grass ninja. She gave a horrored look as the person's neck started to stretch and head towards her Uchiha brother.

Without thinking, she gathered chakra to her legs and leapt from the branch she previously stood from. When she reached Sasuke, he pushed him and Eclipse to the side, taking the bite instead. The Grass nin seemed to curse as his power transferred into the girl's instead of his intended victim. A black cherry blossom mark appeared on the girl's neck, signaling that the transfer was complete. After being released, Sakura stiffened and gave teary cries as she clasped her now throbing neck.

"Sakura!" cried out Sasuke when he saw his sister screaming in pain. He came to her and held her close as she continued her agonizing cries. He glared at the Grass nin who was glaring at the pink-haired girl.

"You, what did you do to my sister!-? Just who are you!-?" he demanded. The ninja smirked and ripped off the rest of his burnt face mask.

"I'm sure you've heard of me Sasuke-kun, my name's Orochimaru." Indeed Sasuke knew about him. He was the trecherous Sannin who performed illegal experiments on people in secret. He was found out, but managed to escape the village, thus becoming a missing-nin. He was the most wanted criminal in all of Konoha.

"What did you do to Sakura!-?"

"I meant to give that seal to you, but that little brat got in the way. Oh well, it matters not, unless she has a very strong will, she won't last the night." At hearing that, Sasuke gave a frightened look towards his older sister. No, she just couldn't die. She still had a lot of things to look forward to, especially her dream; to become the greatest medic in the world. Also, he'd be damned if he lost his one of his 'family' again.

"If I can't have your Sharingan eyes Sasuke, then no one will." The Uchiha gasped as Orochimaru prepared to strike them with his Kusinagi (Soul Cutter) sword. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the Pokeball attached to Sakura's necklace and threw it at him. The Sannin jumped back as the ball burst open to release the Pokemon inside it. Eifie appeared looking a lot better than she did earlier, and stood up shakily as her eyes gazed to the person in front of her.

_Eww, that person smells like snakes. I hate snakes!_ She then looked back to see Sasuke look expectantly at her. Her eyes widened to the now unconscious Sakura.

Sakura! Sasuke what happened to her!-? she demanded to the brunette boy as she ran over to them.

"Save the questions for later Eifie, right now you have to get us out of her!" With the urgency in his voice, Eifie had no intention of disobeying. She spotted the passed out Naruto and Tsubame, as wll as Pakkun. It'll drain her a little, and she was still a bit shaky, but she would be able to manage teleporting all of them saftely outside the tower. Sensing that they were about to escape – although he didn't know how they would be able to – Orochimaru went to lunge straight at them with his blade.

Seeing this, Eifie wasted no time and glowed a color blue. Just as the sword was in reach of its victims, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Eclipse, Eifie, Tsubame, and Pakkun vanished. The Sannin cursed as his prey managed to slip away from him. Whatever that creature was, he was going to kill it the next chance he got.

**:NARUTO:**

**TBC…**

**:NARUTO:**

**HAKU GAME:** Putting Haku in the Pokemon world is something that came last minute, and my little sister was the one who gave me the idea. In Naruto's world he's dead, but in another world…

As quote in the manga: "If we'd met some other way, someplace else, you and me'd probably have been friends." As he finds out later, Naruto's wish on that came true. But this Haku is WAY different from the one he knows in terms of personality.

But their's another very BIG difference btw the Haku of Naruto's world and the Pokemon world. Can you figure out what it is? For those who get it right recieves a pic of him with his Pokemon. My rule only is that you DO NOT tell my other reviewers the answer. I'm sure it's not that hard, so begin making your guesses. This game ends at the chapter Haku makes an entrance (don't yet know though -_-).

Next Chapter: KONOHAGAKURE 2: **The Prelims: **of Big Brothers, Healings Marks, and Bug Controls


	4. Konohagakure 2: The Prelims

**LEGENDARY DREAMS**

**by Eevetta**

**Anime: **Naruto/Pokemon crossover

**Rating: **For the first couple chapters it's rated T, but overall, it's K+

**Genre: **Action/Adventure/General/Humor

**Pairings: **ovearall a friendship fic, but there are Sakura/Gaara and Naruto/Hinata moments as well as others...

**Warnings: **Swearing, OOCness, strong Sakura (don't like? too bad for you)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, Pokemon, or any other Anime cameos that appear in this story. I only own SOME of the OC characters.

***

KONOHAGAKURE 2: **The Prelims: **of Big Brothers, Healings Marks, and Bug Controls

Sarutobi sighed as he thought about what was just told to him. To think that HE would now of all times choose to make his presence known, but he should have expected this. His old student Orochimaru diguised himself as one of the participants in the exam in order to corner the 'last' Uchiha. Anko had faced against him, but (and not surprisingly) was not able to kill him. She had also informed him that he had failed to put the cursed mark on Uchiha Sasuke, but had somehow ended up giving it to Team 7's kunoichi, Haruno Sakura.

The poor girl was now resting in one of the tower's medical wards, only after Kakashi sealed the mark with the help of Anko. Not only was she unconscious, but Naruto as well. Sasuke had informed his teacher that Orochimaru did something to his seal. He'll have to take a look at it later. Right now however, he had to deal with a certain someone. Turning back to the man in front of him, he surveyed him with critical eyes.

"So you want to see your brother." It was more of a statement than a question. The man nodded solemnly, his eyes for once not harboring the Sharingan. "I see. Then what will you do afterwards? If you're planning to become a Konoha shinobi again, you'll have some tough times ahead of you. The village won't accept you coming back here so easily, unless you told everyone the truth (although I doubt it would help very much), and not just that, the Akatsuki will be after your head since you'll be betraying them."

"I've already considered the consequenses Hokage-sama, and I don't find them troubling at all. The only danger to me is the Akatsuki leader since I don't know his identity or his full strength. However, I'm still taking the risk."

"Are you doing this because you are loyal to Konoha, or is it just because of your brother?" The old man asked.

"Both," was the automatic response. Sarutobi raised his eyes at that, giving him the 'oh really?' look. The man sighed. "How about a trade? Let me reinstate as a Konoha-nin, and in turn, I give you information about Akatsuki. You DO want to protect Naruto-kun correct?"

He knew that hit the mark for the Hokage. It didn't take a genius to know that the old man very much cares for the demon host, no matter how much he hides it. It was just easy reading people like open books. It was one of his talents after all. Knowing he got the Konoha leader in the palm of his hands, Itachi inwardly smirked and did a little victory dance. Knowing he was caught, Sarutobi sighed in defeat.

"Alright, I'll reinstate you to your Jounin status, and in return, you provide me with everything you know about the Akatsuki."

"It's a deal then. However," The Hokage gave him a questioned look, "would it be alright to just observe everyone first in Henge form before revealing myself?"

"You want to watch the exams before your identity is found out?"

"Hai."

"I don't have a problem with that, but it would be best to have some of the ANBU and Jounins that I trust, know about you, especially Kakashi. After all, he isn't only Team 7's teacher, he's also the three's legal guardian."

"What do you mean by that?" questioned Itachi. He could understand Sasuke, but Naruto and the Haruno girl?

"Remember that they disappered five years ago? It would seem all four of them vanished at the exact same time, and have been together since they came back here half a year ago. During that time, he legally took them under his wing since they were orphans."

"Sasuke and Naruto-kun are orphans, but doesn't the Haruno girl still have her parents?"

"Unfortunately, she doesn't. The day before she disappeared, her parents died in a mission, and she had no living reletives due to the Kyuubi incident, so she was scheduled to be taken to the orphanage. However, that never happened, and since knowing that, Kakashi took her in as well. Now his students are his family, so the three consider each other siblings, with the Haruno girl being the oldest."

"Is that so," stated the elder Uchicha in somewhat of a sadden tone.

"Don't tell me you're now having doubts about seeing Sasuke again."

"The truth is…I'm a bit nervous in seeing him again. Does he have the knowledge that I'm a missing-nin?"

"We just told him that we didn't know if you were actually alive since your body was never found among the other dead Uchihas. If it will help calm your nerves down a bit, he was relieved to hear that you might still be alive. He looked hopeful, saying that he wanted to see his brother again if he was indeed alive." He chuckled at the surprised expression on Itachi's face. Such a look was ever so rare on him. Also was the small smile on his face.

"I want to see him as soon as possible too, but I think it'll be better to wait after the exams. I don't want him getting distracted because of me. Besides, I want to see how good he's gotten."

At that moment, someone decided to barge in. It was Hatake Kakashi. All words left the Jounin when he saw the supposed 'killer' of the Uchiha Massacre standing just a few feet away from him. He narrowed his eyes and took on a defensive stance. Seeing that the Copy-nin was about to attack, Sarutobi ordered him to stand down. This confused the Jounin to no end.

"It's alright Kakashi, Itachi means no harm." The Jounin bristled.

"How can you say that when he's the one that killed the Uchiha Clan!-?" At the fierce tone of accusation, Itachi winced.

"He did no such thing, he was framed!" retorted the Hokage. Both Jounins gave surprised looks to their leader's angry face.

"But you said that he…"

"It was a lie, and not exactly the whole truth."

"Then who killed them?" He questioned this more to Itachi than the Hokage.

"Even I don't know that," replied Itachi. "I was on a mission the night it happened. When I returned to Konoha, Hunter-nins chased me out of the village telling me that since I killed the Uchiha clan, I was now a S-ranked missing nin, and that I was ordered to be eliminated on the spot." They then turned to Sarutobi who now had on a worried expression.

"You know, don't you Hokage-sama?" inquired Kakashi. The Sandaime didn't answer though, he just stood from his seat and glanced out his office's windows. There was a moment of silence, before he finally spoke up.

"I didn't know at first, but my pupil Jiraiya, had been giving me reports about the organization that you were involved in Itachi. Upon one of the discussions he heard between some of the members, he found out the truth behind the Uchiha massacre." He turned his head and bore his eyes straight into the Uchiha's onyx orbs.

"Itachi, the killer, or should I say the killers of your clan, was the Akatsuki themselves." Itachi's eyes widened at that.

:NARUTO:

He watched with worried eyes as his sister's face continued to scrunch up in pain. Even after Kakashi and Anko sealed up the cursed mark, it still somewhat affected the pink-haired Kunoichi. He was glad though that he manged to get her help in time, or the worse could have happened.

_"Oh well, it matters not, unless she has a very strong will, she won't last the night."_

He remembered clearly what the Snake told him, but he was indeed scared she would end up dead tonight. But that fear left when his uncle said that he'll be able to save her, and he believed him. He also mentally smacked himself for not having enough faith in his sister. Sakura may be shy, but she did have a strong will to live long enough to fufill her dream. He guessed being around Naruto for five years helped her in that department.

He looked towards his younger brother who had yet to wake up. He wasn't really hurt, save for a mild concussion, but he was now cut off from the Kyuubi after Orochimaru sealed its chakra away from him. And since Naruto was cut off from the fox, so was Shirahime. After all, she is Kyuubi's adopted daughter, and she gets power from him as well when she's in danger or is really in desperation. Both host and Pokemon are connected to the bijuu, and with him sealed off, they aren't able to use his chakra.

And speaking of Pokemon, Tsubame was unconcious as well, although she was healing quiet nicely. For Eclipse, he had some cuts and bruises, but he was healing fine as well and was now resting on a cusion at the foot of Sakura's bed. Eifi too was taking a nap next to her brother Eclipse, as she was exhausted with earlier events. The nurses and doctors had given them weird looks, but didn't say a word when they bandaged up their 'pets' too. There was a comment about how Eclipse looked similar to a demon with its red eyes and black coat with glowing rings, and the Pokemon ended up nearly biting off the hand of the doctor examining him.

He manged to keep his Pokemon from attacking the doctor, and barrated not only Eclipse, but the doctor as well. The doctor apologized, but asked to switch with a nurse instead, not totally convinced that the cat-like animal wouldn't bite him anymore. Eclipse had looked smug at the doctor's retrating form and put up no fight against the nervous nurse who continued his check-up. Sasuke even swore he saw the doctor glare at his pet, and he had to hold back his laughter. Eclilpse could be such a troublesome Pokemon.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Who is it?" Sasuke asked the one opposite of the door.

"I've brought the Hokage and a medic nin with me Sasuke. They're here to check up on Naruto and Sakura."

"Okay Ojisan," was his response. The door slid open, and in came the leader of Konoha, a handsome green-eyed brunette medic nin, and his uncle Kakashi. It was only for a second, but he swore he saw the medic nin give him a somewhat shocked look. It was quick, so he wasn't sure if it actually occurred. Not thinking to much into it, he stood up and bowed at the presense of the Hokage.

"It's good to see you again Hokage-sama."

"Yes, it's been awhile has it Sasuke?"

"Are you here to fix Naruto's seal?" he questioned.

"I'll have to check what has been done to it, but I assure you I'll be able to fix it to the best of my abilites." Sasuke gave him a grateful look and watched as the Hokage went to check his brother's seal. "In the mean time Sasuke, Kosuke will take a look at Sakura's condition."

"Kosuke?"

"That would be me Uchiha-san," replied the brunette medic. "I've heard about her receiving Orochimaru's cursed mark, and I'm here to make sure the after affects of the mark's sealing doesn't endanger her health."

"She still has a slight fever, if that's one of the after affects you're talking about."

"That's one of them, but I'm going to also check her chakra system as well to see how much of the cursed mark contaminated it." With a nod of understanding from Sasuke, Kosuke went to look over the kunoichi's health.

The girl was still in pain, but only mildly, and as Sasuke said, had a slight fever. He could work on that later, and went to check her chakra system. He felt pity on the girl as soon as he saw already half of her system being taken by the seal. However, he did find something strange. He didn't know what it was, but some other chakra from the direction of her left shoulder was starting to fight back the tainted one.

It was slow, but seemed to be working in keeping the seal from continuing to spread. Actually, it seemed like it was destroying it bit by bit. He was outright amazed. Wondering what was on the girl's left shoulder, he lifted up her left sleeve to see a faintly green glowing mark on her skin. It wasn't just any kind of mark he'd ever seen though; it resembled a pixie like creature with two curved antennaes and big blue eyes.

"What are you doing?" came a strained voice from behind him. He was inwardly surprised Sasuke was able to sneak up on him, but he didn't let it show.

"Uchiha-san what's this marking on the girl's shoulder?"

"Why're you asking?" Did Kosuke only imagined it or did the Uchiha boy seemed kind of nervous about answering his question?

"Half of this girl's system is already tainted, but this marking is slowly destroying it. If it continues on, the seal will be broken," the medic replied. Sasuke slowly smiled at that, but frowned when he tried to find out a way from answering the medic's question. Seeing the boy hesitate to say something, he reluctantly let it go.

"Nevermind, you don't have to explain. I'm just saying its very fortunate of her to have it, whatever it is."

"Thank you," Sasuke gratefully thanked the medic, smiling serenely at him. Kosuke inwardly squealed in joy of the cuteness the boy was now portraying. He really did look like an angel when he smiled like that.

"You're welcome. Now, let's take care of that fever of hers."

For the next hour, Kosuke had checked not only Sakura and Naruto, but also the Pokemon. Sasuke found it strange that a mere stranger was able to make him feel happy inside and comfortable. Even Eclipse was well-behaved and seemed to take a liking to the medic. The awakened Eifi and Tsubame also took a liking to him; they wouldn't stop wanting their heads being stroked.

They were disappointed when Kosuke had to leave with the Hokage, but he promised to see them again once more before the next test of the Chunnin Exams started. At the mention of that, Sasuke asked if his siblings will be well enough to continue on. He inwardly whooped with joy when he received a positive answer. Seeing the happy face on the boy's expression, Kosuke couldn't help but smile fondly at him.

As soon as they were back safetly at Sarutobi's office, the medic immediately went to dispel his Henge.

Short brunette hair became black pony-tailed hair, and eyes changed from green to onyx black. Two scar like lines appeared down at the side of the person's nose, and his medic outfi turned to a high collared black coat with red clouds at the ends.

"So what do you think of him Itachi?" inquired the Hokage.

"He's still the little brother I've known all those years back, but there's a small change to his demeanor."

"Oh?"

"His face has grown a bit cold. Something dark must have happened during those five years. Do you know anything about it?"

"Somewhat, but I wasn't given any full details about it. They refused to tell the whole story. However, they did say that when they were ready, they'll explain everything. For the time being, all we can do is wait." Itachi nodded, saying that he understood.

**:NARUTO:**

Five days passed quickly, and all the teams that made it through the second exams were now all present in the tower's arena with the exception of Team 7. They were currently being given a final check-up before joining the others, mostly with Sakura because of her cursed seal. Sarutobi had dubbed Itachi (in the form of Kosuke) as her personal medic since he knew more about Orochimaru's mark than him. Anko would have been more suitable, but she didn't know about Itachi yet, and she knew less about healing than the Uchiha. However, with Sakura's 'healing mark' steadily destroying the seal, he wouldn't need to be her medic for very long so it was okay.

The teams in the arena started getting restless, wondering why they were waiting for the Hokage for so long. They did not dare voice out their complaints as there were many Konoha ninjas present, mainly Jounin. The rookies were worried about the absense of Team 7 since they didn't know if they made it or not. They didn't like to admit it, but out of all the rookie teams, they were the strongest. There was no way that they weren't able to pass.

Naruto was the Ninjutsu expert, Sasuke the Taijutsu expert, and Sakura the Genjutsu specialists. Both boys were the powerhouse, yet the blonde was the defense as well as the diversion, and the Uchiha had high unmatched speed and accuracy. As for the Kunoichi, she was the tacticion and the Genjutsu detector as well as the medic in the team. Also, their teamwork was flawless. When one member was in trouble, the others would help.

The area a teammate was weak in was covered by the others. They had seen many times on their joined missions their teamwork, and that inspired the rest to do the same. They weren't that close, but they were getting there. They weren't the only one worried about Team 7's lack of presence. Gaara and Temari noticed the pink-haired girl wasn't around, and both (with Gaara hiding it) were worried she might not have made it. If that was the case, Gaara was going to start a bloodbath with the ones responsible when he finds them.

However, the Rookie 9 and the two Sand sibs grew relief when they saw Team 7 arrive in the room with the Hokage, their Jounin instructor, and a handsome brunette medic. They seemed fine, but they noticed Sakura clutching her right hand on the left side of her neck rather tightly. When the team made it in line, they greeted their friends.

"So you did pass after all. I was scared something might have happened to you guys," Ino spoke with concern. Sakura smiled.

"Don't worry, we wouldn't be here if something did happen."

"That's true. Although I'm surprised that you guys came here last. We were sure you guys would finish first, considering your unique abilities."

"We were first," replied Sasuke. "The Hokage wanted to have a word with us and he kind of lost track of time," he fibbed. Sakura nodded at that.

"Yeah, so you don't need to worry Ino-chan."

"Okay, then why are you still clutching your neck?" For a split second, the others could see the girl's eyes widen, but she just grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, well it still aches from the position I slept in, that's all. It'll go away soon." The others seemed unconvinced though, but they decided not to go any deeper on the matter. They turned back to the front when the Hokage started his speech.

When no one was looking at her anymore, Sakura sighed in relief. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the greenish energy coming from her left shoulder. She could feel her legendary Pokemon's mark pour out seeps of its power throughout her whole system, slowly destorying the tainted chakra of the Snake Sannin's mark. If she were to estimate the time needed for Celebi's power to finish off the seal, she'd say a week more at best, unless for some reason it started acting up on its own.

_Celebi, I thank you for helping me with this. I promise when I see you again, I'll give you a slice of fruitcake._

She knew the time traveler wasn't with her now, but she was positive it could somehow hear her thoughts. After all, it was part Psychic. She came back to reality to feel Eifi nudge her right hand. She gave her a questioned look.

_::You've been lost in thought for awhile that I was worried something was wrong:: _

**_::I was just checking up on Celebi's power. In a week, the seal should stop functioning::_** Eifi gave a smile.

_::That's good. Hurray for Celebi!::_ The girl just smiled at her beginning partner and petted her head, making the Espeon give a small purr.

It was at that time that a sickly looking Jounin arrived on the scene. He was the third proctor, Gekko Hayate, and he was the one that explained about the third exam. It seemed there were still too many people, so a preliminary round was to be held to cut down the numbers of the remaining participants. He then asked if there was any one of them who would like to remove themselves from the exam while they still had the chance. She couldn't imagine any of them quitting after making it this far, but she was a bit surprised when a Konoha nin with glasses and a ponytail decided to give up. She then heared Eifi quietly growl at the retreating nin.

**_::Hey Eifi what's wrong?::_**

_::Something's not right with that guy. He smells of snake!:: _Sakura inwardly gasped at that.

**_::That couldn't have been Orochimaru in disguise could it?::_**

_::No, that guy's stench of snakes was much stronger than this one. I would have to guess this Kabuto guy is likely a subordinate of his, a traitor to the Leaf::_

**_::We won't reveal him right now, but I want you to look into his mind. Gather any important info, and we'll give it to Hokage-sama when the prelims are done::_**

_::Right, leave everything to me:: _replied the Espeon as she began to search the human's mind. To say that the things she saw made her sick to her stomach was an understatement, she would have spilled her guts right then and there. The display was worse then the time she witnessed a Shadow Pokemon being punished for lacking discipline. She held it in though and quickly stored everything crucial she found. When the nin was too far for her to reach, she broke the link.

Not far from where he stood, Kakashi narrowed his eyes. He recognized what Sakura's Espeon was doing, and wondered what she had felt from the Leaf shinobi that just left. Knowing her, she'd have Eifi scan the person's mind for important events, and then give it to either him or the Hokage if they seemed threatening. And by the expression on her face, it was serious, very very serious. His scrutinizing of his kunoichi student didn't go unnoticed by some of the Jounins around him.

"Are you worried about the seal Kakashi?" Sarutobi inquired. The silver-haired Jounin shook his head.

"No, it's not that. I know for a fact Sakura won't use it, she'll never let something as dangerous as that mark manipulate her."

"I do place my trust on her on not using its powers as well, but what is it that you are worrying about?" Kakashi didn't reply. He knew he could trust the old man with anything, and he could trust this info with some of the other Jounins, but he couldn't say the same for the Suna and Oto Jounins.

"I apologize, but it's not of anyone's concern at the moment Hokage-sama. Though, I will comply in telling you after this elimination round is over." Seeing the hidden plead in his eyes, Sarutobi relented.

"Very well then, we'll talk later in my office." Kakashi smiled.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

**:NARUTO:**

And so came the electronic score board that held each Genin's fate on which opponent they'll be fighting against. Almost all felt anxious and dread welling up in them as they saw the names being randomized. It took 5 seconds before the score board presented two names.

**UCHIHA SASUKE**

**VS.**

**ABURAME SHINO**

Heh, right off the bat huh? Thought Sasuke as he gave a nod to Shino, who returned it with acceptance. The two got out from the group and faced each other. The rest of the Genins were ushered towards the stairs, the Rookie Nine and their teachers placing bets on who would win. Kosuke (Itachi) asked to join as well, and betted on Sasuke. He was excited to see how his brother had gotten better over the course of his absense, especially his development of the Sharingan since Kakashi told him of Sasuke's mastery of it.

But the question was, will his brother use it against this kind of opponent who uses only his bugs in combat?

"Alright…this is no-holds barred combat. Both combatants will fight…until one of them is dead, unconscious, or admits defeat. If you sense…that your opponent is overpowering you, concede your loss…if you value your life. There will be…times where I'll step in to prevent a total bloodbath…but don't always count on that. You now know the rules, so are both combatants ready?" Both Sasuke and Shino nodded. "Alright then….begin!"

Instantly, Sasuke started performing handseals at a rapid speed. Shino recognized the technique and quickly prepared his defense.

KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)

The giant ball of fire came at Shino at high speed, enveloping him. The others gasped at this and wondered why the Uchiha would try burning one of his comrades alive. The answer came when Sasuke jumped and rammed a back kick from behind him. Shino appeared and blocked the attack. He grabbed his foot and swung the boy to the side to throw him, but before Sasuke was sent sailing, the Uchiha steathely took out a kunai and slashed it across Shino's face.

Sasuke back-flipped a distance from his opponent and landed gracefully on the floor. He glanced at the bug boy and saw Shino's bugs started coming out of the cut he created. He knew that things were going to get more difficult. Indeed it was, as he saw many of Shino's bugs scuttering across the floor from behind him. He turned back to his opponent who now had his left hand out, ready to signal his bugs to attack.

"You are strong Sasuke, I acknowledge that. However, my bugs have surrounded you. Even if you use any of your Ninjutsus, I'll be there to interfere while they instantly be all over your unprotected back. And if you attack them, I'll be the one to attack your unguarded front. Either way you'll lose, unless you have a back up plan. Maybe use your Sharingan?" Sasuke just smirked.

"What good will that do? I won't use it against someone who won't fight me in close-range combat and instead let their 'pets' fight for them. I want to win this fight without depending on my Doujutsu. I'll only use it in dire situations, and this is not one of them." Shino frowned at that.

"So you don't think the situation you are in right now is critical?"

"No, because it's about to turn around," replied Sasuke as he grabbed the red and white ball on his necklace. The bug boy rose his eyebrow on the strange object, while everyone in the room – save for Team 7 (who grinned) and the Hokage (who gave an excited look)– gave wondered thoughts on the item the Uchiha was holding. Sasuke touched the middle of the ball, enlarging it, and then threw it far across the arena just behind Shino's Kikaichu (Parasitic Destructive Bugs) Army. "Come out, Shiva!"

The ball opened, releasing a small blast of white light. Up on the balcony in disguise as a Sound Jounin, Orochimaru couldn't help but remember the same thing he did in the Forest of Death, but with the pink-haired girl's own ball. However, the creature who came out was different, and from what he remembered how the other looked, it was currently sitting down next to its owner just on the other balcony.

Just like hers, the creature released was also strange, emitting a weird kind of energy pulse from its body. They weren't the only ones, the Kyuubi brat had one too, some kind of giant swallow. And judging by the other Konoha nin's reaction, only Team 7 had such strange creatures. He had to remember to tell Kabuto to look them up. Knowing what these creatures were could prove useful in the future.

The light began to form into a distinctive shape, and when the light cleared, everyone gave awed and intrigued looks. There in the far side of the room, stood a beautiful (a/n: at least I consider it beautiful) quadrupedal creature of 3 ft. with white fur, a black face, tail, and a scythe-like growth on the right side of its head. On its forehead was a black oval-shaped dot, and down along side its face was a scythe-like blade. Its paws protruded sharp claws, and its eyes were a deep shade of red, resembling that of the Uchiha's Sharingan without the black tomoes.

The Pokemon shook itself like a dog and made a soft sound from its mouth that sounded like the word 'Absol'. Upon focusing itself with its environment, Shiva noticed his trainer standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by creepy bugs (he shivered as he saw so many, he really hated bugs) and a boy wearing shades and a high collared jacket. Seeing his trainer seemingly in trouble, he immediately took on a fighting stance.

Sasuke, what's going on here? Are you in trouble? He asked the Uchiha. Sasuke just gave him a 'well duh, what do you think?' look. Nevermind I asked. Grumbled Shiva. Ignoring this, Sasuke called out to his beginning partner.

"Shiva, I'm counting on you to take care of those bugs while I take care of my opponent here." He motioned to the creepy dude with shades at this statement.

Sure thing!

"Oh, and these bugs drain energy, so be careful."

Right! And as quick as lightning, Shiva jumped an impressive 7 feet in the air and sent out a stream of hot flames at the bugs, burning some of them into a crisp. Shino's eyes widened at this and began to think about this unfortunate - or fortunate if you were Sasuke - turn of events. Sasuke gave a smirk and got into a fighting stance.

"Okay, since my little bug problem is currently being handled, I have no problem going all out on you." And with that, Sasuke ran to his opponent for a Taijutsu combat.

**:NARUTO:**

"Kakashi!" yelled off a pissed off Kurenai. The Copy-nin didn't seem affected by it though, he just turned his attention towards her, hastily putting away his orange book.

"Yes, is there something you wanted?"

"How come you never told us that the Uchiha had some strange creature with him all this time!?"

"What, are you upset Shino's losing?" he inquired. He saw it in her eyes that that was only half of the reason why. He wondered what the other half was. Was it because his team had kept quiet about their little 'pets'? He did see many times the others cast curious glances at Eifi, but they never went into it any further. Kurenai's following outburst proved his inquisition on the matter.

"If that animal could use fire attacks and have good speed, then why didn't you tell Sasuke to use it during all those joint C-ranked missions we did when we were attacked by enemy nins!? Especially the one in Wave!?" Kakashi's eyes steeled after that statement, causing her and some of the others to take a step back.

"I don't have to explain myself to you Kurenai. My reasons are my own. Or do you not have any confidence in your own pupils' abilites?" The woman reckoiled at that. "Hm, I thought so." Ignoring the desbelief on the kunoichi's face, Kakashi walked a bit away from her and took out his book again.

**:NARUTO:**

Sasuke had to admit, in Taijutsu, Shino was far better than he expected. He never seen the guy fight hand to hand before because of his excessive use of his bugs; his ninja opponents to his opinion were terribly weak if they couldn't corner the guy into close combat. However, Sasuke knew that he was better. After all, Taijutsu was his expertise, and he didn't waste any of the time he spent in the Pokemon world with his siblings. Even on their journey Kakashi trained them in the ninja arts, and each found their own specialty.

He and Naruto loved to spar, whether it was during break from their traveling or on the road heading to a new city or town. Sakura would always fuss over this – especially when she had to end up always healing their wounds – but knew her brothers would never listen to her pleas to stop their constant matches. On the bright side to it, she did find it entertaining and would record who had the most wins and lossess. It even surprised him during the times she even participated due to boredom. Although he hated to admit it, even though she wasn't proficient in that area, her punches hurt a lot more than Naruto's.

He grimaced as he thought about the time she 'accidently' punched him squarely in the face and to a nearby tree. Right after realizing what she had done, she started apologizing frantically (a/n: similar to that of Tohru from Fruits Basket) and went to 'mother hen' mode. Needlessly to say, he was bedridden for 2 days. Musing out of his thoughts, Sasuke saw an opening in Shino's defense and went straight for it. The bug boy was sent crashing to the wall and this time didn't exploud into bugs.

Sasuke looked to his opponent with critical eyes; the guy was still concsious. He looked to his Pokemon who was idly standing in the center of the arena and staring back at him with questioned crimson eyes. He looked around to see if there were still bugs around.

There were none.

Not wanting to drag this match any longer, Sasuke thought now was the time to end the fight, so he decided to give the bug boy a oneway ticket to dreamland.

Shino picked himself off the wall and stood up shakily. He knew it was a lost cause already. Even if he sent more bugs to go after his opponent, the Uchiha's pet would just burn them to a crisp. He saw the raven-haired close his eyes and then opened them to reveal blood shot orbs with three tomoes in each one. Shino knew it was better to give up now before he buried himself in deeper trouble; there was no choice.

"Examiner, I resign," he told Hayate as he raised his hands up in surrender. The sickly shinobi nodded.

"Winner of the first round, Uchiha Sasuke." At that, Team 7 and anyone else who betted on the Uchiha – which were surprisingly few – cheered. The ones who lost – like Kiba since he didn't like Sasuke to begin with – groaned and handed over some of his earnings to the winners. He would not loose the next bet.

Sasuke just blinked before deactivating his Sharingan. He then went over to Shino and helped him steady himself on his feet. Shino gave him a thankful gesture, and together, they made their way towards their teammates. Sasuke motioned Shiva to come as well, and the Pokemon obediantly followed his trainer. Wanting to apologizing for killing his bugs, Shiva did what he only could do, he helped support the person he called 'creepy dude'.

Somehow knowing what the creature was trying to do, Shino gave a small thanks and patted the Absol on his head; he didn't seem to mind at all. As they reached their team, Kiba immediately baratted his teammate on why he gave up so easily. He was only responded by a 'wasn't it obvious' look. That left the Inuzuka throwing a bit of a fit. Ignoring him, the others gave curious looks to Shiva who only stared back at them.

He then laid down, yawned, and took a cat nap. Everyone sweatdropped and Sasuke sighed. His Pokemon can be so rude sometimes, it always reminded him of himself when they were younger. It seemed that persona rubbed off to his Absol. Everyone then turned to Hayate who coughed loudly to get everyone's attention.

"The next opponents will now be confirmed." The scoreboard went through the names, and a few seconds later, it stopped.

**YAMANAKA INO**

**VS.**

**TENTEN**

Ino stood no chance against Tenten's weapons and looked to have lost. However, through narrowly dodging the barrage of weapons sent towards her, she managed to pass through Tenten's defense and threw an explouding tagged kunai near the Weapon Mistress. Before the blonde was knocked unconscious by the older nin's bow, she activated the tag causing a big explosion. Tenten ended up hitting the wall rather hard, resulting the match to end in a draw. They were quickly taken away to the infirmary.

**HYUUGA HINATA**

**VS**

**KANKUROU**

Kankurou barrated how it was a waste of time for him to fight against a such a weak ninja. Hinata almost ended up forfieting right then and there, but Naruto's yelling words of encouragement and telling how she did very good on their first A-rank mission – and telling her how Kankurou was only a big bully – made her come out of her shell and finalize her resolve. She turned on her Byakugan and with surprise, noticed the real Sand nin hiding in the bandages the 'puppet' had on his back. Before the Sand shinobi could do anything, Hinata rendered the real puppet user of his tenketsu points, ending the fight with her victory.

**HARUNO SAKURA**

**VS.**

**INUZUKA KIBA**

Both Sakura and Kiba gave loud 'YES!'s as they found out it was their turn to fight. Realizing what she had just done, Sakura gave an embarrassed look to her fellow peers who just stared at her weirdly.

"W-well, when you've been around Otouto as much as I have, his antics start to rub off on you," was her explaination. Naruto pouted as everyone agreed.

"Hey, it's a good thing isn't it? Then the others would have the courage to do such stuff."

"Not like we wanted you to do it in the first place you dope," replied Kiba.

"And I didn't. You guys ar the ones who decided to act that way those times ago."

"Um, sorry to cut your discussion short, but Hayate and the foreign ninjas are getting impatient," spoked up Kakashi.

"Oh, sorry Sensei," apologized the pink-haired kunoichi. She then turned to her Pokemon partner. "You ready to fight Eifi?"

"Espe! (Yeah!)" Both females then jumped over the railing towards the bottom of the arena, Kiba following suit.

The dog user landed on the floor and turned to his opponent. What he saw made his and everyones' – with the exception of Team 7 – jaws drop. Sakura was bathed in a lavender glow, and her descent was like that of feathers falling to the floor. Next to her was Eifi bathed also in the same light, but what was weird were her eyes. Her amethyst orbs were glowing.

Landing softly on the ground, Sakura turned to see everyone stare at her in awe. She gave them curious looks as if to say 'What? Did I do something wrong?'. In fact, she voiced it out.

"How did you do that!-?" demanded/asked Kiba. Upon realizing what he meant, she just grinned.

"Beat me and I'll tell you."

"Che, fine. Let's go Akamaru!" he exclaimed as he set his dog down next to him.

"Arf! (Right!)."

"Okay Eifi, get ready." Eifi, her tail going up in alert and her eyes gaining a serious look.

"Alright, are both combatanants ready?" inquired Hayate. When he received nods, he raised his right hand up and dropped it down. "Then begin!"

And with that, Kiba and Akamaru charged.

**:NARUTO:**

**TBC…**

**:NARUTO:**

Next chapter: KONOHAGAKURE 3: **The Prelims II:** of Tag Teams, Wind Users, and Bad Memories


	5. Konohagakure 3: The Prelims II

**LEGENDARY DREAMS**

**by  
**

**Anime: **Naruto/Pokemon crossover

**Rating: **For the first couple chapters it's rated T, but overall, it's K+

**Genre: **Action/Adventure/General/Humor

**Pairings:** ovearall a friendship fic, but there are Sakura/Gaara and Naruto/Hinata moments as well as others...

**Warnings: **Swearing, OOCness, strong Sakura (don't like? too bad for you)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, Pokemon, or any other Anime cameos that appear in this story. I only own SOME of the OC characters.

***

KONOHAGAKURE 3: **The Prelims II:** of Tag Teams, Wind Users, and Bad Memories

Sakura got herself ready as Kiba charged at her with great speed. The Inuzuka gave a powerful punch to the girl which she immediately blocked by crisscrossing her arms in front of her. He gave another punch but she slapped it out of the way. He aimed for a roundhouse kick to the side of her head, which she blocked with her left arm. This little exchanges of punches and kicks were continued as Kiba continued his close combat assault at the girl who just continued blocking or dodging his blows.

She had yet made a retaliation, and the boy decided he didn't want to give her that chance. He'd seen how hard she could hit; that tree she smashed through on one of their missions proved enough how powerful her punches and kicks could be even without the use of chakra. Mind you, he never got hit with one of those, but from what he was told from Naruto and Sasuke - as both experienced them themselves - you could very much get your bones broken if you didn't be careful. Taking this into heart, he made sure he'd keep her on the defensive throughout the whole match. Unfortunately, he didn't get his wish.

Finally being able to read her opponent's moves, Sakura started her counterattack. Ducking away from a kick, she spun around on her low crouch and sweeped the dog boy of his feet with her left leg. Kiba plunged straight fore ward to the ground, but with quick reflexes, caught himself by doing a back roll on the ground. However, he wasn't given the time to recover his bearings as Sakura aimed a heel drop kick at him. He immediately rolled to the side as her heel impacted the ground, causing pieces of concrete to fly out.

Kiba gulped. If that was only a fraction of her power, he'd hate to see her fullest.

He backed flipped out of the way as she sent another heel drop to his face. The girl then started attacking Kiba with an intensive ferocity as he himself had. She was fast, yet not too fast for him to block, but if he let any of her attacks hit, well, it would bring pain beyond belief. According to all the times both her siblings shuddered at the times they've been hit, it didn't take a genius to grasp the meaning to their action. He noticed too that Kakashi was also frightened with his Niece's seemingly monstrous strength.

That alone made him even more bent on not getting the wind knocked out of him.

**:NARUTO:**

The remaining members of Team 7 gave shudders at the many holes and broken up concrete made by their pink haired kunoichi. This did not go unnoticed by the other rookie teams however, much less the proctors standing near the Hokage. They absorbed the scene with much amusement and decided it was good blackmail material for later; their expressions were totally priceless to say the least. Who would have thought such a sweet girl could cause such fear to three strong shinobis? They admitted though that they didn't blame them.

I mean, just look at what the girl's 'non-chakra enhanced' punches were doing to the poor cement floor. They had no doubt that if the girl had her way, she would have turned the whole arena into a tiny desert. At the opposite side of the balcony, the Suna and Sound teams were gapping. They couldn't believe the hidden strength the seemingly nonthreatening girl posseseed. It gave them a whole new meaning to the phrase 'never judge a book by its cover'.

Temari suddenly smirked, as the wheels in her head decided to take some pleasure at poking fun at her puppet-using brother.

"Well whaddya know Kankurou, that girl had gone easy on ya. Aren't you lucky?" she mocked laughed. Said recipient just growled.

~Damn, if she had been serious she would have killed me! Are they giving their genins steroids in the Leaf nowadays?~ He flinched when the pink-haired girl finally got in a decent hit on her opponent, who apparently crash landed in the wall. He was impressed though when the Inuzuka was able to lift himself up, although he got a few tries before he managed to stay upright on his feet. ~I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I'm glad I'm not the one fighting her right now.~

As for Gaara's reaction, he couldn't help the wide smirk growing on his face. She not only had books smart, but strength in body too. Interesting, she was so interesting. Not only that, she would be a worthy opponent too. Now the question remains, 'who's power is greater', her monstrous force or his absolute defense? Oh he couldn't wait to find out.

At the Sound team's side, the disguised Orochimaru couldn't keep a growing smirk from his face as well. It seemed he didn't waste his gift after all; that girl has just shown the great potential she had that she kept hidden back in the forest. As pleasing as it was to discover this, he also loathes the very thought of that girl possessing the very same 'talent' that one of his previous teammate was well known for. It was also a displeasing thought that if Tsunade ever crossed paths with the pink-haired girl, there would be a chance she would take a keen interest in helping to develop the child's powers. Yet, on a positive note, the Slug Queen hated Konoha with a passion; enough so that she kept far away from the village as far as possible.

Loosing all faith in the village due to her loss of the two people she loved the most, even if Konoha should perish, she wouldn't do anything to help it. However, he couldn't say the same for his other idiotic ex-teammate. Jiraiya may not come to the village often, but he was still loyal to both Konoha and the Hokage. He wouldn't hesitate to help should a war break out in the village, and he was hoping he wouldn't appear until late when his aide would be meaningless. He got out of his thoughts as a loud yelp from below rang throughout the arena.

**:NARUTO:**

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled out as he saw Eifie tackle his partner towards him. He caught the little puppy in his arms and looked him over for any damages. He sighed with relief when he saw none.

On the other side, Sakura back-flipped next her partner who acknowledge her presence with a flick of her ears. She surveyed the area around them to see the extent of the damage she'd done, and couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. Sometimes she didn't know her own strength, and that mistake had often led to her brothers getting hurt and be out of commission for a few days. Naruto and Sasuke complained about it all the time, saying how being beaten by a girl was an uncool image. Sakura had noticed the fact that they wouldn't let themselves say it also wounded their prides as men, and had rolled her eyes at the immature thought.

She wasn't one to talk though, as she did secretly loved abusing her brute force to always teach her siblings a lesson. But it wasn't only the boys she would use it on; Kakashi had been the victim of multiple bruises, cuts, and broken bones himself whenever his 'subtle' perversion would make itself known. Let's just say her uncle made it a point to plan out many possible escape routes from her raging fists.

"Eifie, I think it's time to take it up a notch," she commented to her Pokemon as they watched Kiba give Akamaru a soldier pill. The puppy's fur turned as red as his namesake, and started baring his teeth at an amused Eifie. "They're getting serious."

Interesting purred the Espeon.

"Let's do this Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed to his partner. With a affirmative 'woof', the puppy jumped on the crouching Kiba to begin their technique.

Woof Woof (Ninja Art of Human Mimicry!) barked Akamaru.

"Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry!" exclaimed Kiba after his dog.

Jujin Bunshin! (Man-Beast Doppelgangers!)

"Oh my, make that deadly serious," smiled the pink-haired girl at the completion of the jutsu; two Kibas were now present with lengthen claws and sharper fangs.

That's new mused Eifie in slight fascination.

Kiba had indeed used this technique before during one of their joint missions, but this would be the first time they'll be on the receiving end of it. Oh how thrilling. Seeing their opponents ready to pounce on them, both trainer and Pokemon took defensive stances. As quick as lightning, the duo humanoid canines came at them with with swipes of their claws. With quick reflexes, Sakura and Eife dodged the attacks, splitting up in different directions; the Kibas smirked and turned towards the closest of the two. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw them head towards her partner. Thinking fast, she called out an attack.

"Eifie, Double Team!"

Heeding her trainer's call, her eyes glowed for a second before her body split into multiply after images, her real self hidden amongst them. The twin canines gave confused looks when they hit nothing and saw the many copies. Thinking that the creature did the Bunshin technique, they went to the rest of the clones and destroyed each one of them in hopes of finding the real one. Eifie paced herself around the arena with soundless steps, making her way towards Sakura as the girl fumbled in her pack for something. Finding what she was searching for, Sakura quickly ushered Eifie towards her, and tied something around her partner's neck.

**:NARUTO:**

"Eh, she actually brought that?" a dumbfounded Naruto questioned. Sasuke grinned.

"Well, that's Nee-san for you, always prepared for nearly anything that comes her way."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Hey, isn't that the same thing she gave Eifie when she was told to run decoy against those Mist ninjas?" inquired Ino. The blonde remembered being flabbergasted when the feline creature had started evading everything thrown at her with such ease when before, she was practically skidding from one place to another dodging the enemies attacks with a grace of a clumsy chicken.

"That's right," Naruto nodded. "Bright Powder, a very useful - and not to mention rare - item that raises ones evasion up a couple of notches. The sand released from the pouche cast a glare when exposed by light and make it much harder for opponents to see properly. Well, at least that's what we were told anyway." His genin friends already knew the properties of the tool, but everyone else didn't, so he decided to give them the breakdown. The worry of enemies overhearing was thrown out the window, since the only place they'd ever hope to acquire a bagful of it would be in 'another world'.

"You know, you guys never did tell us where you got such a nifty thing," the blonde girl accused the three members of team 7. Everyone else around them also wanted the answer, so they listened in.

"Himitsu (secret)" the three guys automatically replied in perfect sync.

Cue anime face faults.

**:NARUTO:**

"Double Team again Eifie!" Sakura shouted.

In less than two seconds, multiple copies of the Pokemon once again sprang forth. They darted in different directions as the canine duo came plowing at them. Just like before, Kiba and Akamaru went to destroy all the copies. However, as they were about to make their way towards Eifie, their vision was blocked by the coming of black smoke.

~What the- smoke bombs!-?~ exclaimed Kiba as he and his partner stopped in their tracks. Shimmers of bright light hit their eyes and they winced from the many glares. His worry soon ebbed away as he gave off a smirk. ~Good, but not good enough. I hope she hasn't forgotten about our primary weapon. No one beats a canines sensitive nose.~ Sniffing around through the haze - and nevermind about its scent - he managed to pinpoint two different smells. One was sweet cherry blossoms (definitely Sakura's) and the other was...morning sunshine? Right, that was Eifie's scent. Alright, since he caught on, he had to decide which one was best to go after. Heh, no brainer.

"Gatsuuga (Fang over fang)!" Kiba called out as both man and beast headed towards the direction of the 'shining sun'. They missed and it cost them.

"Shadow Ball!" Sakura called out. Both the Espeon's eyes and gem glowed, before she produced from her mouth a black orb of dark energy, and hurled it to the direction of the spinning duo. The attack connected and caused an explosion in the room. Sakura landed next to her partner to check her over and was glad to see no damage was done to her so far.

Eifie was not built for strength of body, but strength of mind. She knew if she got hit multiple times with those powerful attacks, she'd soon collapse from exhaustion and be eliminated from the fight. Evading was her way of self-defense as well as studying her opponents movement. The sack of powder around her neck helped wonders with her evasive maneuvers, but she didn't want her to rely on it too much. Sooner or later, glaring light or not, she would get hit.

When the smoke cleared, everyone saw the Inuzuka and his faithful companion trying to get back on their feet. Akamaru reverted back to his original form and looked to be struggling back up. Kiba managed to stand upright after a few wobbles to his steps, but he was more concerned for his dog than his image right now.

"Akamaru are you okay?" The puppy whined and collapsed over. That was enough for Kiba to know that his partner was no longer in fighting condition. Kiba gritted his teeth and looked to his opponent who was giving a worried look to the now unconscious Akamaru. He picked his puppy up and handed him to Hayate to watch over. "Just so you know, this means war 'Forehead Girl (Sakura twitched at that)," he told the kunoichi with a growl as he went and popped a soldier pill in his mouth. With renewed strength, the Inuzuka swiftly rushed at them, not giving the two any warning.

Both girls back-flipped out of the way. Sakura managed to create a good distance away from the boy and looked to see her partner do the same. Wanting to pay back for the attack earlier, Kiba went straight for the purple feline dog. With the help of her predictions in the air currents, as well as her bright powder, Eifie was able to dodge all the attacks aimed at her. Well not for long though. During her haste to dodge another attack, she didn't see the small piece of rock in front of her.

She tripped.

She was hit dead on. Talk about bad karma rearing its ugly head.

"ESPE!" she cried upon impact, landing hard on the cement floor.

"Eifie!" Sakura called out in concern as she ran to her familiar. "You alright? No big injuries or internal bleeding?" she fussed over the Pokemon. Eifie giggled in her mind.

Stop, you're acting like a mother hen again. I'm fine

"But you're hurt! See, look you have a limp leg," the pink haired girl replied with slight hysteric, lifting up the hind leg that seemed a bit crooked.

I said I'm fine!the Espeon snapped, nearly regretting doing it when her owner gave a hurt look , this works out, now it's one on one. Oh don't give me that look, this fight is YOURS to finish not mine. They're testing the ninja's capabilities not their partnered animals. That's why I didn't immediately knock those two out with any of my psychic attacks you know that! Sakura sighed.

"Yeah you're right. At the very least, you can't do much right now with a sprang leg." Eifie nodded in understanding. "I think this fight has dragged on long enough, don't you think so Eifie?" The question of course was rhetorical. When her trainer took out her gloves from her small pack, Eifie gulped.

Um, don't you think that's a bit much? the Pokemon inquired in worry. Her trainer was always protective of her Pokemon, and disliked it when they got hurt, even if it was unavoidable. She was the most unique out of all her partners due to her dark past, and because of that, if one were to learn of it, it was understandable that she would be overprotective of her the most. Sakura just waved her off as she stood up.

"Of course not. I still need to pay Kiba back right? Especially when he called me that very insulting name. Well, I think I have just the right idea to do it too, SLOWLY...and...PAINFULLY," she drawled out as she put her gloves on...right in front of a now scared-shitless Kiba. "Better protect yourself, a lot of things with be flying around in a few moments."

Just don't hurt him too much Sakura just winked at her.

She then smiled innocently at the Inuzuka as if there was nothing wrong with the world. Kiba on the other hand thought otherwise as a horrible chill ran down his spine. Just how in hell could she smile like that when there was practically a blizzard blowing behind her? "You should know by now that what people ask, I deliver. You wanted a war? Then I'll give you one." Putting her last glove one, she gave a coy grin to her opponent. "So, shall we finish this?" she smiled sweetly.

Kiba could do nothing but mentally write his will.

**:NARUTO:**

Up in the stands, all the rookie Genins were panicking all over the place and trying to find places to hide (yes even the stoic Aburame). Even the Jounins were uncomfortable as they inched towards the walls while sweating bullets. The Hokage, Kosuke (Itachi), Team Gai, and the other village participants were bewildered at the sight of the rookies acting like crazy chickens running away from a hungry predator. Some of them were taking refuge behind their teachers, while some - mainly Naruto - was sobbing in fright. Mutterings of 'I don't want to die' was heard from him as he clung tighter to his 'uncle' like a frightened baby. Sasuke was clinging on Kakashi as well, but without the waterworks.

"Rival Kakashi, you and the others look as if you've seen the Shinigami himself!" proclaimed Gai in concern at the sight of his rival pale as a ghost.

"Heh, you couldn't be more right about that," Kakashi muttered back, trying not to stutter.

"Whatever do you mean?" the 'Green Beast' of Konaha questioned. Everyone else looked on with curiosity. One minute they were composed as royals, and the next, well...they looked like they were about to either piss themselves pretty badly or start to hyperventilate so much they would need to immediatley be sent to Intensive Care.

"Um, well you see..." The ninja tried to form words, but he didn't really know how to reply back. Taking pity on him, Kurenai decided to speak up, much to Kakashi's immense relief. However, her response only brought more grief to the others.

"He means that anyone who wants to face death in the eye need only to go to that girl. She'll definitely not disappoint." The gloomy air just got gloomier. Neji, as well as some of the other village ninjas, just scoffed. Sure the girl was strong (as much as he hated to admit that), but certainly even she wouldn't last against more powerful and experienced ninjas...right?

BOOM!

YELP!

CRASH!

SMASH!

SCREAM! (yes this is all in order of happening)

Everyone gave a jolt as they heard all these not so very pleasant sounds. Turning back their attention to the fighting below, everyone gaped in horrid disbelief (and to some, sheer fascination). The arena looked like numerous bombs just exploded due to the many giant and deep holes all over the place. Not to mention that the statue hands in the back now only had two fingers left. That itself was shocking enough, but that part wasn't the main concern.

Sakura's left hand had Kiba's face planted on the floor, and with her other hand, twisted his right arm back in a very painful looking angle. His legs were pinned down by the girl with her knees on them, making sure he wouldn't be able to kick her off him. To sum everything up, the kunoichi had the boy under her mercy.

"Dammit all woman- OW, 'uncle', 'uncle' already! I give okay, I give- OW!"

"I don't think the judge heard you Kiba-kun, I think you have to say it louder." Truth was, the proctor did hear, but didn't want the face the girl's wrath right now so he stayed silent.

"Okay okay. Proctor I give up! Now get this fricken violent 'Forehead Girl' OFF ME!" And with that declaration, Sakura let go of her prisoner and rolled him over so he laid on his back. She managed one last kick where the sun doesn't shine, causing every male in the area to cringe at such a horrible act. Naruto cried again while Sasuke's grip became tighter, causing their caretaker to wince.

"That's for calling me 'Forehead Girl'," she huffed in distaste at the now curled up dog boy. A sudden pain shot to her neck and she clutched it out of reflex. It was only for a few seconds before it subsided and she let her hand drop. She hoped no one noticed.

"Due to his forfeit, the winner of this round is Haruno Sakura," announced Hayate. For a moment no one said anything, before the sound of a loud appraise rang throughout the room.

"YEAH SAKURA-SAN WON! SHE BRIMS WITH THE BURNING FLAMES OF YOUTH!" shouted Lee as he pumped his hand in the air. That one outburst managed to break the silence as each of the rookie genins and jounins either cheered or made comments of the fight, all recovering from their earlier panic attacks. Oh, and let's not forget about the bets too. Not surprisingly, many of the Genin teams won their bets. At the other balcony, Temari was smirking at the girl's victory while Kankurou was giving many colorful curses at the girl in his head. As for Gaara, he was joining his sister in the smirking department, but it was kind of hard to tell.

Closing her eyes, Sakura sighed as the last of the adrenaline in her simmered down. She felt her leg being rubbed, and she smiled down at the beautiful feline dog looking at her with adoring amethyst eyes. Patting her head, Sakura told her to teleport them back to the balcony. They both glowed with a lavender light and disappeared from the floor. They reappeared next to the waiting brothers, where Naruto ended up glomping on her and smothering her with congratulations. Sasuke just grinned at the amusing scene, but sweatdropped at the 180 degree change from the blonde.

"Here Eifie let me look at that leg of yours," Sakura told her partner as she bent down to examine the limp paw. She hovered a hand over it and it began to glow a green color. She was told not to use her chakra for fear of activating her cursed seal, but the healing energy she was releasing now wasn't her own chakra, but Celebi's- a seperate source of power, and as long as Celebi was in good health, she could borrow power from her Legendary as much as she needed. After a few seconds the light faded and she stood up. "Well is that better?" she asked. Eifie got up and tested out her healed leg. It was back to normal.

Feels great, thanks!

"I don't understand." Everyone turned to the one who spoke up. Neji. "If you had that much strength from the beginning, then why didn't you end the fight quickly?" he inquired the seemingly innocent girl in front of him with a narrow gaze. The girl shrugged, not intimidated by the glare.

"It wouldn't be much fun if I ended it almost immediately. I never fought Kiba before so I was curious with what he could do that I haven't seen him done yet. And besides..." Her shoulder gave another jolt like earlier, and a hand instantly went to her concealed neck. Everyone who didn't know about the seal gave raised brows at the act. The ones who did, grew worried. "...and besides, I'm not allowed to use too much of my chakra."

"Sakura-san." They turned to see the Hokage gazing steady eyes to the kunoichi who tensed. "May I have a word with you?" Oh shoot, so he did notice.

"Of course Hokage-sama," she replied, trying to sound calm. Ignoring the concerned and curious looks from the others, she followed the village leader to his spot in the balcony.

"What's that all about?" inquired Ino as she watched the Sandiame, Sakura, and the handsome medic speak amongst themselves in hushed voices. Her questioned gaze then went to her best friend's teammates. They shrugged, yet knew it might have to do with her 'condition'.

"Who knows. Hey look the next fighter's are being picked." Dropping the subject for now, everyone eyed the screen.

**NARA SHIKAMARU**

**VS**

**TSUCHI KIN**

As usual Shikamaru complained about having to fight, especially a girl, but complied since he didn't want his blonde teammate screeching at him for being a lazy ass. It didn't really take too long to beat her though, probably at least 3 minutes tops or a couple seconds less. She thought she had him under her control with the string and bell attached needles, but once again, Shika's brilliant mind were many steps ahead of her. He captured her with his shadow with the connection of the threads and threw a shuriken at her. Under his control he held her in place, and when it came closer, started leaning back. With a hard 'thump' he knocked her unconscious with the wall behind her.

**HYUUGA NEJI**

**VS**

**ABUMI ZAKU**

Neji taunted his opponent about losing against him because of destiny favoring the Hyuuga, and that he should give up to spare himself some embarrassment. Angry for being looked down upon, Zaku brought out both of his arms to perform a double Zankuha. Neji was faster though. With his eyes now showing the Byakugan, he saw his opponent's chakra gathering up in both of his arms. With quick successful presses to the chakra points to Zaku's arms, they felt limp. From there Neji closed more points until he rendered the Sound nin helpless without his chakra. As a last ditch effort, Zaku went to punch him, but the Hyuuga dodged and knocked him unconscious with a chop to the neck.

**AKADO YOROI**

**VS**

**ROCK LEE**

Lee was extremely giddy when it was his turn, and kept bouncing up and down in glee like a child near a candy store. Annoyed, Tenten kicked him over the rails and on the floor below, but Lee managed to land on his feet in the nick of time, making Tenten snap her fingers in disappointment (Neji was disappointed too, but didn't show it). It took a couple of attempts before Lee's opponent managed to figure out 'busy brows' barely had any chakra in him. Yoroi knew then that he was clearly at a disadvantage since he couldn't use his special technique. Still he pressed on with his hand to hand combat, but Lee made it difficult for him to even touch him. So in the end, it wasn't a surprised when he ended up passing out with Lee's signature kick.

**UZUMAKI NARUTO**

**VS**

**TEMARI**

"Yess, it's finally my turn!" cheered Naruto as he jumped over the railing - ignorant to the many stares he was receiving - and landed softly on the ground, a cushion of wind breaking his fall. His opponent saw this and inwardly grinned.

"Another wind user huh? Now that's rare in these parts," mused Temari. Deciding to make her own flashy entrance, the Suna kunoichi pulled open her fan and swang it sideways, creating a small gust of wind throughout the area. Naruto watched with fascination as Temari rode her fan down towards the floor. afer landing in the arena, the blonde girl shut her enormous weapon and struck it on the cement ground, making a small dent. She smirked at the boy's awestruck face.

"Hmph, you're not the only one who can make grand entrances 'boy'."

"Nope, I guess not," chirped Naruto with his ever idiotic smile, not offended at all. Temari's eye twitched at that.

"Alright, if the participants are ready, let the fight begin." In that instant, Naruto rushed towards his opponent at neck breaking speed, mildly startling the blonde kunoichi as she held her closed fan in defense.

**:NARUTO:**

"Well, there he goes again, just as reckless as ever," sighed Sakura. She returned from her talk with the Hokage and her 'personal' medic during shortly in Shikamaru's fight, and was now leaning over the railing in a slightly irked manner. Her two companions nodded in agreement. "At least on the bright side his fighting style is one most wouldn't be able to predict."

"Of course it isn't. He relies mostly on instinct rather than on strategy," Sasuke replied. "The Fox's behaviors and ways of fighting has affected him as its host. At least it isn't in a bad way." Sakura thought otherwise as she gave a definite scoff.

"Yeah sure, if you describe his large ego as something 'not' bad. It'll be the death of him one of these days."

"You'd best not tell him that Sakura," spoke Kakashi as he continued reading his book. "Most likely he'll take that as a challenge. You know how he is."

"Heh, you're right about that, his pride won't stand for such a challenge to go unfulfilled."

And it's not just pride, he's stubborn as well

That he is Efie, that he is

**:NARUTO:**

Both wind users parried each others blow in rapid succession. It got to the point of boredom so Temari decided to finally up the scales. If it were any other regular opponent she was fighting right now, she would have loved to play around with them a bit. But...

"Nippou: Kamatachi no Jutsu (Cutting Whirlwind Technique)!" Naruto yelped as he narrowly blocked the oncoming sharp blades of wind with his own defensive shield of wind.

The boy wasn't a regular ninja to fool around with. She had sensed it through the wind the first time they crossed paths. It was small whispers of warnings to be careful around the blonde no matter how harmless he looked. But it wasn't only him, his teammates as well. These whispers had never led her astray throughout her whole ninja career, so why should she ignore it anytime soon?

Not giving the boy anytime to recover, Temari followed up with a strong burst of slicing wind, vigorously picking up lots of debris and spreading it around the area. Naruto shielded his face from the flying debris, making sure not to get anything in his eyes. He then heard the sound of sandals running towards him, and quickly dodged to the side just as Temari's fan slammed down on the spot he previously stood on. Concrete broke under the weight, and he couldn't help but gulp, thinking what would have happened if he didn't get away in time.

Seeing her missing her target, Temari retreated back a distance before Naruto got a chance to counter. The wind died down by then. It didn't last long however, as she sent another gust towards Naruto. The boy dashed away as it came, but had to flip out of the way of another burst, this time a short one that appeared right after the kunoichi sent her previous one. Talk about fast reaction time.

Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration. The girl was good, he'd give her that much. She wasn't really suited for close combat despite being able to hold her own. She was more of a long-distance, wide range user. Her fan was a pain; if only he could manage to take it from her, then she'd be defenseless.

Though, he didn't like the idea of hurting a girl much less one who would probably plot a retaliation somehow, and trying to put her in a submission hold would rouse a much greater anger in the kunoichi if he touched her in front of everyone. He sighed as he thought he had no other option. Well why not? His siblings showed off their Pokemon, so why shouldn't he? He unzipped his jacket and reached inside to pull out a familiar red and white ball.

Temari went on high alert when she saw the small object. Naruto enlarged the sphere and threw it up above his head. The ball popped open, and the flash of white light that shot out of it formed itself into a large bird; a swallow to be precise, although it was way bigger.

It looked to be a bit over 2 ft in height, and was colored a brilliant blue with a red face and breast feathers. Its wings were sharply shaped as were its tail feathers, indicating its frame was design for speed. Its feet were also red and armed with talons that looked as sharp and deadly as those of a falcons'. All in all, the bird was definitely gorgeous.

"Swellow!" it cried as it flew above in circular motions.

"Are you okay in helping me out Tsubame?" Naruto called out. "I know you're still recovering a bit..."

Don't worry I'm okay, I can fight.

"If you say so." With a shrill, Tsubame continued to stay airborne above her trainer, looking at Temari with anticipating eyes. "I should introduce you two; Temari this is Tsubame, Tsubame meet Temari. I hope you don't mind me using her."

"I don't mind. This just makes everything much more interesting," she smirked, although casting a small wary glance at the large swallow. There was no doubt in her mind that its purpose was related to his agenda of obtaining her fan. She wasn't oblivious to her weaknesses; she knew perfectly well that she would be in deep trouble if she didn't have her prized weapon on her, so she had to make sure to watch for any surprise movements from both of her opponents, especially that bird.

"Here's payback! Whirlwind now!" And just like that, a huge gust of wind created by the bird encircled the area. From keeping herself from flying off the ground - yeah, the wind was that strong - Temari held on to her iron fan that she dug into the ground.

She started when a fast shadow reached out for her fan. She ducked in time, and the large silhouette flew by, crying out in disdain. Heh, getting her fan wasn't going to be that easy. The bird made a u-turn and dived right back in. She dodged and opened her fan to show one red circle. She sent a burst of wind towards the swallow who skillfully maneuvered out of the way, and went back for her. Tsubame's wings glowed and swiftly slammed one down to Temari's position. The kunoichi's eyes widened and quickly pumped chakra to her feet and leaped away from the danger zone.

At the corner of her eye, she noticed Naruto and several clones going in for an attack. Quickly getting her bearings, she whipped open her fan to the two circle and let loose another energy of wind. She ended up destroying the clones, but the real one elluded the attack by cartwheeling out of range. Once he caught himself, he took out something Temari least expected.

A katana.

Now the question was, where in the five great countries did he whip that out from? As if reading her mind, Naruto grinned and made a 'it's a secret' motion. To those who were Kenjutsu users or didn't know Naruto could use a sword, all they could do was either gasp, give sheer disbelief looks, or watch on with interest.

**::NARUTO::**

"What the hell? He can use a sword!?" exclaimed Kiba. He got a whack to the head as his response, courtesy of Ino.

"Idiot, he used it in our Wave mission against Zabuza," she replied. The Inuzuka gave his friends an indigenous look as they all nodded.

"Really? I didn't notice."

"Of course you didn't notice, you were too busy fighting Haku in his ice mirrors. Though, I doubt you would've been able to see at all with all the fog." Ino shivered when she said this, remembering the chilling feeling of killing intent throughout the area. It was bad enough she couldn't see what was in front of her face, she had to fight in such condition as well. It was really frightening not knowing where your enemy could pop out from.

"Hey Ino, it's okay, that time's over," Sakura tried to calm her best friend down when she noticed the look in the blonde girl's eye. She wasn't going to say she wasn't scared as well, as she was indeed scared back then. It was a whole different kind of experience. Sure in the Orre continent it had been one dangerous adventure, but not one so life-threatening as the one in Wave.

"Thanks," Ino smiled at the pink haired girl and to her concerned friends.

**::NARUTO::**

Down in the arena, Temari was in the middle of one of the most exhausting and troubling fights she had ever fought in. Two on two wasn't really fair, but she couldn't complain as she did accept the extra fighter. Still, it was kind of ridiculous. The blonde would attack, she would parry, the bird would try a move, she would dodge and try to gain distance. They didn't give it to her. So here she was blocking each hit as best as she could, not being allowed a breather. She cursed the blonde boy.

Finally, for what seemed like forever, she found an opening and kicked Naruto in the gut, sending him flying. Not finished yet, Temari dodged a talon to her back and swung her fan at the bird. Tsubame screeched as she was catapulted to the far wall, cracking an imprint of her large body. The swallow shakily stood up tried to shake off the dizzying spell. Naruto was seen clutching his gut and mutter 'ow ow ow' under his breath. The girl really knew how to kick. He then noticed his Pokemon's state and gasped.

"Tsubame, you alright girl?" The Swellow nodded slowly, still trying to pull herself together. Naruto chewed on his bottom lip in thought. "Fine then. Roost." And with that one command, Tsubame started to glow. All spectators watched as feathery illusions danced around the bird Pokemon before disappearing and the glowing stopped. The bird gave a few testing flaps before crying out her name and returned to the air.

~Oh you have got to be kidding me~ Temari thought panickly in her head at the sight of the semi-healed bird. And just as she was finally able to take a breather after her assault.

"That's good Tsubame, now get that fan!"

Right! Following her trainer's orders, she flew towards the tired Sand girl. Temari couldn't evade this time due to her exhaustion, and Tsubame managed to catch hold of the fan, but Temari held on to it with everything she had left. She then noticed Naruto managing to stand up and start charging to where she and his bird were having their tug-a-war game, katana in hand. Oh no she was not gonna let them double team her again.

"Oh no you don't," she exclaimed as she did something unexpected, something that got her bewildered stares, mainly from her team. Tsubame once again screeched in pain and let go of the fan, reeling back in the air and checking her foot. The little hussy had bitten her, enough to draw blood. Naruto had paused mid step, at the point of tripping if he didn't catch himself, and gapped at the sight. He didn't think the girl would go that far in trying to protect her fan.

His eyes then narrowed at the blood dripping down his precious Pokemon's foot, doing her best to tend to it. Suddenly, his eyes widened as a flash of a dark room with many cages came to his mind, followed by a sound of whipping, cries, and lastly blood, lots of it. He fell to his knees and clutched his head in pain, images of unwanted memories surfacing again. His siblings' shouts fell on deaf ears something in him snapped. He saw red.

Temari herself didn't know why she had done what she did. Usually such method was beneath her, but without the use of both arms, she would have lost her fan to the large bird. Smirking, she turned to the blonde boy, and then dropped it. He was now glaring at her, his previous cheerful demeanor replaced with anger. Those eyes gave an inhumane sheen of red, causing Temari freeze up.

~Oh Shit~ thought both Temari and Tsubame at the large scale of chakra the blonde was staring to give off.

"FUTON: DAITOPPA! (WIND RELEASE: GREAT BREAKTHROUGH!)"

Due to the amount of chakra put into the technique, the damage dealt was twice-maybe triple the amount of what it normally should have been. The explosion was gigantic.

:NARUTO:

"&^%$%#(()!!!" exclaimed Sasuke as he and everyone else in the balcony hang on for dear life. Through all that, Sakura still managed to give him a disapproving look. Shiva, who had awoken from his nice nap, looked indignant.

"SASUKE!" Said boy give an apologetic look, but continued to curse inside his head. Just what the hell was the idiot thinking using such a technique with that god damn amount of chakra!? He knew he was mad, but wasn't this overkill? Something must of triggered it in his mind to have cause the reaction, maybe something bad. Maybe it would have been best if his seal was fixed AFTER the preliminaries. His chakra control probably would have sucked, but at least his swordsmanship was good.

"At this rate he'll end up destroying the entire place. Not to mention Tsubame is still to close to Temari!" he cried out. Responsible for his student and nephew's actions, Kakashi decided to intervene. Leaning over the railing as far as he could without falling over from the large burst of wind, the jounin yelled out to the blonde.

"NARUTO PLEASE CALM DOWN OR YOU'LL RISK DESTROYING THE PLACE! NARUTO!" He made a frustrated noise when the blonde didn't hear him. "Dammit! Okay then. I HAVE RAMEN!" Everyone gave him looks like he was crazy. "What, it's his favourite food. Just hearing someone having it, even if stuck on a deserted island, would catch his attention. He has a one track mind."

"It doesn't seem to be working though," pointed out Kurenai. She was right, the blonde was still unresponsive.

"Alright then, desperate time calls for desperate measures," voiced out Sakura.

"What are you gonna do?" inquired Sasuke. An eyebrow rose when she produced a hand sized rock from her bag as well as...a slingshot? What the heck?

"Eifie, help me out. Use Confusion on this rock so it'll ignore the wind resistance. I'll do all the aiming."

Understood was Eifie's respond as she took a ready position. Sakura pulled the rubber back and aimed towards her little brothers cranium. It'd probably take a few brain cells from him, but it was either that, or blowing the whole place up.

"3...2...1...let it rip!" (ha ha, Bayblade) She release the rubber and watched the Confusion controlled rock hit its target dead on. Naruto yelped and fell down for the count, the wind settling down until it disappeared. "Ah ha, BINGO!" Sakura shouted in triumph as she pointed to the sky. Everyone gave her strange looks. Sasuke smack his forehead in exasperation. Kakashi merely smiled.

**::NARUTO::**

~Am I...still alive?~ Temari thought as she opened her eyes. What she saw astounded her. Tsubame was standing in front of her with her wings flaring out similar to an embrace. Covering around them was a spherical shield that seemed to be a bit straining keeping up. Did the bird protect her during the blasts?

With the wind dying down, Tsubame released the shield and hopped back a couple of steps. She gave a questionable look to the Sand kunoichi as if to ask her present feelings. Temari, not knowing what to say, just gave her a brief nod and a soft 'thanks'. Satisfied, the Swellow walked towards her trainer who was now clutching the back of his head in pain. The blonde spotted the perpetrator and glared at her.

"What the hell was that for? You just killed a couple brain cells I just know it!" Said perpetrator glared back.

"Not like a couple brain cells off ever hindered you before. Do you have ANY idea on what you just did?"

"Eh?"

"Just look around you and you'll see, my foolish little brother (ah, I wonder where that came from?)" Curious on why she sounded so ticked, Naruto looked around and immediately paled.

The floor was no longer smooth concrete, but was now broken in chucks both in small and in large pieces. The rest of the hand statue was gone, and the large crater he now stood in broke in another 6 ft. Even a piece of the balcony the foreign ninjas were standing on was destroyed. Thankfully he didn't see anyone hurt. It was then he noticed his Swellow walking towards his way, and by the looks of it, she was NOT very happy. The next thing he knew, she was user her Peck attack on him. Although he would more likely call it a Fury Attack.

Naruto *peck* you idiotic *peck* boy *peck* what in *peck* Ho-oh's name *peck* were you *peck* thinking!? *peck* *peck* *peck*

"Ow, I'm sorry...ow...I didn't mean it...ow ow ow!" Nearly everyone sweatdropped on the scene. Hayate decided to intervene since the preliminaries were still not done, despite the state of the arena, and dropped down to the floor and coughed. This stopped both Pokemon and trainer who looked at him with either expectancy or curiosity.

"Despite what has happened, this match is still on going. It's been over 8 minutes since it started..."

"Oh right, sorry," apologized Naruto.

"NO!" Temari shouted out. The blonde and referree turned to her. The girl gulped. "I mean...I forfeit. There's no way I can beat him." She swept her eyes around the room as she said this, and Hayate understood the girl's decision. She couldn't fault her for it, with after seeing the Uzumaki boy's raw power manifest in a fit of rage - something that still was questionable on what triggered such a fit.

"Due to Temari's decision to forfeit the match, Uzumaki Naruto wins this round." At that declaration, Kankuro jumped down to his shaken up sister. Naruto gaped, his mouth open like a fish. She forfeited? Tsubame nipped at his shirt.

You can't blame her Naruto. The power you possess is incredible, with or without the aid of Kyuubi-sama. What you did in your state of trance proves it.

"Yeah, but..."

She still looks to be a bit in shock. Best clear it all up before things get uncomfortable between you and her team. Nodding in uncertainty, Naruto took cautious steps towards the Sand siblings, lest the brother retaliates. Noticing the blonde boy's approaching form, both siblings tensed. Seeing this, Naruto steps faltered. Not knowing how to start he fidgeted on his feet, looking nervously from side to side. Finally, he acted on the first thing he thought of.

"I'm sorry!" he blurted out as he bowed. The siblings stared at him in surprise. "I'm sorry I lost control I didn't mean for it to happen, it just...did." Wow, what a lame ending. "Um, actually, I guess you can say it was because of bad memories." There he said it.

"Bad memories?" questioned Kankurou. "Of what, of being bitten?"

"Of course not!" Naruto responded back with a pout. He then looked away. "Look, just forget it. I'm just here to apologize okay. So are ya gonna accept it or not?" Temari stared over the boy's nervous form for a moment before setting her gaze on the large swallow standing patiently at her trainer's side, looking at her in expectancy. Tsubame nodded.

"It's okay, I forgive you. It was my fault for letting you relive those bad memories due to my actions."

"I told you it wasn't because of being bitten-"

"Regardless," she cut him off with a glare for not letting her finish, "of whether or not it was because of that, I accept your apology." With that, she motioned for her brother to follow her back up the balcony, but not giving one final appreciative nod to Tsubame, who returned it.

You should go back up too Naruto, you'll be in the way of the next fight.

"You're so cold," Naruto pouted. He then smiled and nodded. He lifted her pokeball towards her and returned her back inside. He then shrunk the pokeball and put it back in his jacket. As he made his way up the stairs, his mind couldn't help but think back to the memories that triggered his rage. He grimaced. ~That was a long time ago Naruto, it's over~ He kept telling himself. As he finally approached his team, he casually greeted them.

"Yo!"

He got decked.

"DONT SAY 'YO' SO CASUALLY LIKE THAT AFTER WHAT YOU DID YOU IDIOT!"

"But Neechan!" Naruto whined as he rubbed again his throbbing head. Seriously, just how many more brain cells was he going to loose today?

"Don't 'but Neechan' me, I don't care for the reason! No ramen for you tonight. Or better yet for the whole week!" Naruto looked like his best friend just betrayed him. He broke down sobbing on Eifie. His Neechan's word was law after all. Eifie twitched at having her fur get wet with all the 'tears', but patted a paw to his back in trying to comfort him.

"Aren't you being a tad bit hard on him Neesan? He didn't mean it."

"Oh don't let me get started with you Sasuke. Or do you really want me to do something about those Shonen comic books of yours?" Sasuke had a panicked look on his face. No, not his precious comic books!

"Sh-shutting up now." Sakura smirked in approval.

"Good. How about you Ojisan, got something to say?" she asked sweetly to the now sweating Jounin.

"Not a thing."

Well by the looks of things, everyone now knew who the 'true' leader of Team 7 was. Haruno Sakura was definitely a person not to be trifled with.

**GAARA**

**VS**

**MISUMI**

It was over in less than a couple of seconds. Gaara already knew the guy wasn't worth his time, so he just used his sand to envelope him and give the guy a quick and painless end. Or at least he would have if Sakura had not screeched at him to not do it. Funny, this coming from someone who could easily do the same for her opponent if they weren't a friend. For some strange reason, he had complied and just broke a few...well alright, a lot of bones and tendons. Simply put, he ended the guy's career as a ninja.

**AKAMICHI CHOUJI**

**VS**

**DOSU**

The match, well it wasn't really much of a fight. Chouji was reluctant at first but gave in when Asuma promised him an all you can eat victory barbeque. Dosu provoked him when he called him the 'F' word (you guys know what I'm talking about) and Chouji retaliated with his Nikudan Sensha (The Human Juggernaut) technique despite the arena's present state. Dosu blew him in the end though. When his opponent's rolling was halted for a couple of seconds by a large chunk of concrete, he charged in with his amplifying arm and sent sound shock waves through Chouji's skin. Water was a great sound conductor, so since the human body was mostly made up of water, the blast riquoted throughout Chouji's body, enough to render him unconscious.

With the final round over, the preliminaries came to a close. All winners were brought to the front of the now non-existent hands - Sakura and Naruto both blushed with embarrassment when it was mentioned - and were given a speech from the Hokage. After that, each fighter drew a lottery from a box and the numbers they received indicated the pairings for the finals.

1 Uzumaki Naruto  
2 Dosu Kinuta

Naruto glanced to the Sound ninja and then frowned. Said Sound ninja gave an apprehensive posture and stared warily at his adversary.

3 Hyuuga Hinata  
4 Hyuuga Neji

Neji sneered at his opponent, causing the Hyuuga heiress to flinch at the intense stare. Naruto's eyes narrowed in distaste to the display, but stayed quiet. No use causing a ruckus right now.

5 Rock Lee  
6 Uchiha Sasuke

Sasuke's eye twitched, but nodded to Lee who gave him a thumbs up, shiny teeth and all. The Uchiha inwardly shivered. Next to the Hokage, Itachi did the same thing.

7 Haruno Sakura  
8 Nara Shikamaru

Shikamaru cursed under his breath while Sakura smiled sweetly at the troubled boy. He must think all this too troublesome.

9 Gaara

The red head was a bit disappointed he wouldn't have anyone to kil--maim, but hoped that the one he wanted to fight would end up winning the previous round.

Not long after, everyone was told of having a month to prepare for the finals, as well as telling them all that there was a chance everyone could be Chuunin, but also a chance no one would. With all the conversations done, all competitors went back to their respective teams and headed out. Those left behind then settled looking over the damaged arena. They all sighed. It looks like they knew what they were going to be doing during the whole month.

**:NARUTO:**

**TBC…**

**:NARUTO:**

Next chapter: KONOHAGAKURE 4: **The Finals:** Of Perverts, Tricksters, and Change


End file.
